In what order should Comments be displayed?
Advpoll_binary
Submitted by Flappy on Sat, 05/08/2010 - 17:56
When looking at site content, does it make more sense to show the oldest comment first so that you can follow the comment thread, or should they list showing the most recent first so that you don't have to scroll to the bottom of the page to see the most recent comment?
Comments
#1 This is a trick question
This is a trick question right? :P
Honestly, I'm not sure. Some widely used comment systems puts the newest first. I believe that if there is few comments, oldest should be first. But if there is a lot of comments, newest first would probably be best. Looking around on the net to see if there's some trend with this. What I do see is that forum posts and comments on forums tend to be oldest first so you read your way down to the new. But in blogs and comments on images and the likes, then it looks like new first old last is the most common way.
#2 Comment order can vary by content type
The commenting system allows you to specify properties of comments based on node type. So you can have blogs and pics show newest to oldest and forums to show oldest to newest.
In general, I like the idea of seeing the most recent comment first. But if the comments involve any degree of discussion, it becomes difficult to follow. Also, with threaded comments, the newest in the reply to the reply shows first. This makes it confusing to follow the sub-discussions in the comment thread.
With oldest first, you get the continuity of the discussion as it happens. If you want to see the most recent comment, you either scroll to the end of the page or select the last page in the pager. Also, if you are using a "Recent Comments" block, clicking on a comment link in that block brings you right to that comment and not just blindly into the thread.
Using oldest first gives more continuity to the discussion in the thread, but newest first makes the most recent comment jump right out at you. I'm still on the fence as to how to go with this.
If you feel that there are certain content types that really should be set one way or another, please feel free to chime in.
"Once in a while you get shown the light
in the strangest of places if you look at it right."
-Garcia/Hunter
#3 Oldest First
I have to agree with what oyu said in your post about following the discussion. I even think this is true for items like pictures (sorry Mags). As sometimes comments can be made or based off another comment... and then you start reading backwards to understand the whole thing...
That's my $.02 - oldest to newest... always and forever :)
#4 Deadlocked
We're deadlocked at 2-2 at this point. I like seeing the most recent comment first, but get confused reading backward (especially when threaded indents are involved). As my comment above (or below depending on how comment ordering is set at any point in time ;) ) indicates, there are pros and cons to each.
Since there's a most recent comments block available and clicking the link on the most recent comment brings you to the end of the thread, I'm liking the oldest first scenario.
Since this setting is on a node-type basis, I went in to the existing content types here and set them to oldest first. It's no biggie to set them back if you really don't like it. There's only one voter who has yet to comment.
"Once in a while you get shown the light
in the strangest of places if you look at it right."
-Garcia/Hunter