Replying to pic comments

[haunted_chipshop]

Could we have a layout that has a reply to a comment go underneath the original, eg when replying 'thank you' to a kind comment. Replies on top look illogical and as if they are not connected with the original.

[dw_thomas]

Could we have a layout that has a reply to a comment go underneath the original, eg when replying 'thank you' to a kind comment. Replies on top look illogical and as if they are not connected with the original.

I guess the best way would be to have it user configurable for 'top post' vs 'bottom post'. Frankly, while it's kind of you to thank folks for comments, I tend to doubt that many people who leave comments will return to see if there's a follow-up, it isn't really a forum sort of environment.

Putting the most recent comment on the bottom means that one encounters the oldest first. For folks like Yours Truly who are lucky to get any comments at all, it doesn't matter. But there occasionally are images that are popular and have been up for several years for which new posts at the bottom can mean having to scroll down through multiple screens to see the latest comment.

(I vaguely remember raging arguments back in the 1990s about top posting vs bottom in email. )

DaveT

[akmc_in_au]

Dave, I think the intention of the request was an indented reply underneath the comment; more of a "tree" arrangement, rather than just having the reply appear at the bottom of the list of comments.

I wouldn't mind seeing that either (though realistically we both know it'll never happen) and of course the key problem is, as you say, the fact that few people will return to see it. (Back in my early days on the site I wasn't sure how that worked and left some replies to comments as new comments, until I realised that I was talking into the ether.) The only way that you can respond to a comment in a way that ensures that the other person sees it is if you send them a PM, and then of course the reply does not appear to any new visitors.

One of the reasons that the commenter will likely never return is that unless they bookmark the photo they'll never find it again. It's always niggled me that there is no list of photos that you've commented on or voted for (complete with thumbnails), so that you can return to them. Of course, I would not put money on ever seeing that, either.