![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zvi) wrote in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_suggestions2009-07-14 01:29 am
Modify disable comments function
Title:
Modify disable comments function
Area:
entries
Summary:
1) Let journal owner see comments on entry where comments are disabled.
2) Provide option for disallowing future comments, while allowing current posts to remain visible.
Description:
People sometimes disable comments on an entry after comments have already been posted to the entry. People sometimes disable comments to their entire journal after people have made comments in it. While this is sometimes an effort to erase the record, more often, it is a signal from the journal owner to their audience that they do not wish any future comments.
1) I propose that the disable comments function, instead of making comments already made 'disappear', allow the journal owner to continue to see those comments. However, these comments should be presented without replyto links, and the replyto for each comment should redirect to the thread link. This will prevent the journal owner from repeatedly commenting to those who are no longer able to respond.
For a journal entry which is originally posted with comments disabled, the current behavior is preserved. For those journal owners who prefer the current behavior to the suggested behavior (i.e., they want disabling comments to prevent <em>them</em> from seeing comments already made) they can add this line to their customized css.
div.comments {visibility: hidden; speak: none; }
2) As I said, often disabling comments is not an attempt to hide prior discussion, but to stop future discussion. In certain circles in LJ, disabling comments on a contentious post is viewed as a cowardly coverup. Allowing past comments to remain visible to everyone able to the view entry, while disabling the replyto function, would let the historical record remain clear. Of course, the account which posted a comment should still have the ability to delete the comment, but they should not have the ability to *edit* any comments, even if they are paid users and the comment was never replied to.
This suggestion:
Should be implemented as-is.
15 (30.0%)
Should be implemented with changes.
30 (60.0%)
Shouldn't be implemented.
2 (4.0%)
(Other: please comment)
3 (6.0%)
no subject
no subject
also [this is my lack of understanding, honestly] how would that differ from "Freeze Thread"?
no subject
The main difference is that this would apply to the entire journal, or to the entire entry, not just to individual comment threads.
no subject
no subject
no subject
I also want to make it so that people can choose to disable new comments on a post after X time, where X is what you choose, so you can say "only allow comments to my entries for two weeks" if you want, after which the old comments will still be visible but new comments or replies will be closed.
no subject
no subject
(Anonymous) 2009-07-14 10:13 am (UTC)(link)-C
no subject
no subject
no subject
For anti-spam/troll purposes, if this could be made journal-wide at the click of a button, it would be great.
no subject
I mean, with your proposed split, this can be effectively achieved by going back and mass-screening after you've closed comments, I suppose, but if one's doing it to a very active entry or a large portion of a journal, it seems a lot of work...
no subject
no subject
no subject
1) trolls going through my journal looking for any public entry anywhere just so they can comment on as many different posts as possible before I ban them;
2) F_W doing one of their "historical retrospectives" about some dumbass old HP controversy and people coming into old posts trying to start wankery up again.
The only thing I'd ever leave permanent open comments on is fic (for obvious reasons I think).
no subject
no subject
Some of my posts from a few years back still get occasional constructive comments, Google helps a lot more people out than the average journal author realises.
But overall, yes, I like this, but ZVI's idea of having the current comments disabled function still display them as screened to the author is a good one.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
(Anonymous) 2009-07-14 10:01 am (UTC)(link)- C
no subject
Of course, the account which posted a comment should still have the ability to delete the comment, but they should not have the ability to *edit* any comments, even if they are paid users and the comment was never replied to.
Why? This creates a change in the current way the editing comments system works, and I think may cause user confusion. As long as there is an indication of the fact that it has been edited, I don't see why this is necessarily a problem.
no subject
...you can see the problem, right? If comment editing is left on, it means that people who actually want to freeze all comments would have to use the old behavior.
no subject
no subject
Agreed. The only way I can use CSS is if someone else writes out the incantation for me and tells me where to paste it.
no subject
For those journal owners who prefer the current behavior to the suggested behavior (i.e., they want disabling comments to prevent them from seeing comments already made) they can add this line to their customized css.
Why? There can just be two different options: disable new comments / hide and disable comments.
(And now I see
Of course, the account which posted a comment should still have the ability to delete the comment, but they should not have the ability to *edit* any comments, even if they are paid users and the comment was never replied to.
I wouldn't like to see that aspect implemented.
no subject
If that aspect is not implemented, the feature does not achieve its aim of halting conversation. Or rather, one would have to freeze comment threads as well as disabling new comments, in order to make the feature useful.
no subject
no subject
(Note: I have no interest in doing such a thing, but it's easier to talk about this rationally referencing a dispute about something that doesn't matter very much than it would be if I referenced, say, Racefail.)
I have a job, it's a work day, I have no time to reply to 80 comments an hour, so I close commenting on the post. If comment editing is left on, what do you think is going to happen in that post?
Even if you think someone deserves a dogpile--i.e. their post was not about whether Arthur Weasley is worthy of respect, but rather Mahatma Gandhi--the fact remains that nobody ever handles one well and especially not during the middle of a work week between 9 AM and 5 PM their time. If we're going to give someone the tool to turn off dogpiling, which is what this is, it needs to actually turn it off, and leaving comment editing on just means that instead of adding new comments, dogpilers can lengthen and tighten theirs to make themselves look better, the OP look worse &c ad nauseam.
As someone who doesn't think dogpiles are ever really constructive (because I never see people coming out of them going "I really learned a lot and have come to really respect my opponents" and I don't think humiliating people ever changes their attitude in a good way) I think the stop dogpile tool should be as effective as possible.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
I've only turned off comments once (when I found out that two groups of friends from university had started hating each others presence after I'd moved away and were having a bitchfight in a jokey post I'd made while working an 80 hour week), and have never gone back to turn those comments back on again.
To an extent, if it were a recent post, I think I'd like to be able to read through the comment thread again in order to decide if I wanted to show them all again. I think this is a very good idea that adds functionality. I see nothing unfair about it in any way.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject