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confusing forum structure
Hy,
for me this forum has a very special way to structure the forum threads and replies.
The newest reply is not always at the end of a thread.
So it becomes hard work to follow a discussion.
Maybe it would be possible to chang ethis, if other people have the same difficulties?
Greetz
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You can reply to the main post, which is topic of the thread, then newest is on top. If you reply to any particular response your reply will fit in under that reply. If you reply to the last person who replied, then you will be on the bottom. So it is possible for you to have an intention about who you are talking with.
If we pushed everyone to the bottom some posts might be very far from that part of the conversation. That wouldn't work either.
Thanks
Since I started to understand and became used to it I actually like this forum structure. Why not use background colors to make the structure more clear. Every reply to the main post, along with it's response, will have a particular color.
For example, the background colors could be:
white - Main post
blue - Reply 3
blue - responses to reply 3
red - Reply 2
red - responses to reply 2
green - Reply 1
green - responses to reply 1
Hy Richard,
none of the less, this is functionality is very unusual in most forums of the web. And this has a reason. Most people seem to need an chronological way to read posts. For understanding to whom the poster is talking to, it is common to use means like "@richard" or citation.
Here we have two different ways to follow the chronological order a post was made. I have to go up (if it was a post reply) and i have to go down (if it was a direct reply to a reply). Up and down - while going down ;-)
But if most of the users like it - bingo. People who a interested in ND are a little bit confused anyway ;-)
Greetings
Andreas
I like the general look of this forum. But I have to agree that I also would find a ´regular´ chronological order more appealing.
If the forum structure was a bit more clear I would probably read this thread
( http://www.nevernothere.com/forum/integral-view ) for example. Of course the unique feel of this site is attractive, but when it comes to usability, I think a common phpbb-forum (which is free I believe) is better. The only downside could be that the look is pretty generic, and perhaps implementing the old posts into a new-forum would be somewhat of a puzzle.
I would initially prefer a chronological version. But, if the threaded replies in general could be collapsed and expanded by the user and let the root replies stand out, I believe that would solve the problem.
I would also strongly favour a version of the suggestion given by michielkroon.
I hope there can be a solution to this. This site is already awesome :D