Comment Upgrades

Hey everyone,

Earlier this morning, Tim rolled-out an update to the comment system that brings with it the ability to ‘report’ a comment.

Next to the upvote and downvote buttons, there is now a gavel that if you click this, it will create a flag on the back-end where a moderator can address the issue (spam/trolling/harassment ect).

It’s a small update but one that should help us keep the comments/foums a little bit cleaner.

Brad

Conversation 23 comments

  • lwetzel

    Premium Member
    27 October, 2018 - 1:10 pm

    <p>Great! Now let's hope we won't need it. ;)</p>

  • karlinhigh

    Premium Member
    27 October, 2018 - 4:07 pm

    <p>(APPLAUSE)</p>

  • lethalleigh

    27 October, 2018 - 7:56 pm

    <p>Brad, I have a question. In your opinion what is the positive value of having a downvote button?</p>

    • boots

      27 October, 2018 - 8:38 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#357236">In reply to lethalleigh:</a></em></blockquote><p>So lazy people can disagree with you, without telling you why.</p>

      • bharris

        27 October, 2018 - 9:28 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#357251">In reply to Boots:</a></em></blockquote><p>But I guess the same argument could be made for upvotes. To me, it is not so much that I agree or disagree but that post said something interesting/thought provoking. That being said, I don't pay a whole lot of attention to them. If I'm interested in the topic, I'll read all of the posts.</p>

    • MrKirbs

      Premium Member
      28 October, 2018 - 1:07 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#357236">In reply to lethalleigh:</a></em></blockquote><p>There is a difference between people who aren't contributing to the discussion, and people who are being abusive or spamming. Someone saying something mundane and anti-Apple on an iPhone review isn't worth engaging a moderator over, but should otherwise be filtered away through community action.</p>

    • Brad Sams

      Premium Member
      28 October, 2018 - 11:38 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#357236">In reply to lethalleigh:</a></em></blockquote><p>it helps with moderation, if we see a user is getting a significant number of downvotes, every time they comment, it's easier to surface that account.</p>

      • Minke

        28 October, 2018 - 4:19 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#357355">In reply to brad-sams:</a></em></blockquote><p>The problem I see is that most downvotes have nothing to do with the tenor or quality of the comment. Most downvotes are simply because someone disagrees with the comment. I personally ignore the votes since they have no relationship to the quality of the comments, only opinions of the readers.</p>

        • Tim

          Premium Member
          29 October, 2018 - 12:03 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#357422">In reply to Minke:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>I'd like to preface this by saying I'm not sure I have a real opinion here yet…I actually find this an interesting discussion. That said…</p><p><br></p><p><strong><em>"Most downvotes are simply because someone disagrees with the comment."</em></strong></p><p>And what of the up-votes? </p>

          • lethalleigh

            30 October, 2018 - 12:08 am

            <blockquote><em><a href="#357669">In reply to Tim:</a></em></blockquote><p>The difference is that downvotes are often used for the wrong reasons and can have a negative impact on the recipient.</p><p><br></p><p>I just feel we should lift people up rather than drag them down. If someone finds a comment so egregious they can report it.</p><p>Anyway, just my opinion.</p>

          • Minke

            01 November, 2018 - 7:39 pm

            <blockquote><em><a href="#357669">In reply to Tim:</a></em></blockquote><p>Sure, upvotes are because people agree with the comment, but again, these votes have nothing to do with the quality of the comment, only the opinions of the readers. I really don't know how you can look at down votes as a flag that someone is saying something inappropriate, because in most cases they aren't. In fact, on some forums I see outrageous stuff get tons of upvotes just because some people like outrageous stuff.</p>

      • locust infested orchard inc

        03 November, 2018 - 3:41 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#357355">In reply to brad-sams:</a></em></blockquote><p>There is one such account/person who consistantly has negative down votes on almost all his/her comments, probably with an average downvote value of -5.</p><p><br></p><p>The user is certainly genuine, but his/her comments are evidently biased, and contrary to the mindset of the majority who frequent Thurrott.com</p><p><br></p><p>I don't wanna be seen as a grasser, so I shall refrain from naming him, but (s)he certainly brings no <em>karma</em> or <em>police</em>-like seriousness to the majority of his/her comments.</p><p><br></p><p>Subtle hints as to the member with italicised words in the preceding paragraph. ;-)</p>

  • BigM72

    28 October, 2018 - 3:18 am

    <p>I wish the effect of upvote and downvote buttons was more prominent a la Ars Technica. Aside from a few committed "fans", people here are generally sensible and civil. On that basis they can use upvote and downvote for comment quality vs just agreeing/disagreeing.</p>

  • Oasis

    Premium Member
    28 October, 2018 - 12:36 pm

    <p>What is the Blue(pencil looking) thing in your Snip?</p>

    • Brad Sams

      Premium Member
      28 October, 2018 - 1:07 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#357357">In reply to Oasis:</a></em></blockquote><p>that's the ability to edit a post – mods also have the option to flag a post as spam, delete a post, and a few other items.</p>

  • Maktaba

    28 October, 2018 - 9:51 pm

    <p>What a strange icon for a report button. Exclamation mark in a triangle would have been better.</p>

    • Daishi

      Premium Member
      28 October, 2018 - 10:41 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#357506">In reply to Maktaba:</a></em></blockquote><p>Or, you know, a flag.</p>

  • madthinus

    Premium Member
    29 October, 2018 - 8:57 am

    <p>Awesome!</p>

  • Daekar

    29 October, 2018 - 9:45 am

    <p>Thank you!!</p>

  • infloop

    Premium Member
    29 October, 2018 - 11:01 am

    <p>Brad, do we want to implement something like archiving old posts so that it will no longer be possible to make any new replies? Something like when the last activity was months ago, or one year?</p><p><br></p><p>It looks like to me that the spammers are digging up old posts to spam on, bringing the thread back to the top, and then actual readers add comments likely without realizing how old a thread is.</p><p><br></p><p>Edit: I noticed that the post date does not show on the All Forum Posts page if it is viewed in a window larger than what I assume is a smartphone screen. Perhaps this can be added as well?</p>

  • robincapper

    29 October, 2018 - 9:48 pm

    <p>Good to see, thanks</p>

  • Dan1986ist

    Premium Member
    19 August, 2019 - 5:39 pm

    <p>I've been using the gavel on spammy posts and was wondering if that actually did anything or alerted anyone about those posts?</p>

    • Brad Sams

      Premium Member
      20 August, 2019 - 9:10 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#450440">In reply to Dan1986ist:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Yes it does.</p>

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