Released: Discuss Improvements, Comment Sorting And Threading, Ticker Shortcuts And More...

18th Oct '19 by Jack Brumby

16 comments 3913 reads

Our latest release has seen us make upgrades to the Discuss area. This is one of the most popular parts of the site and we've been listening to lots of feedback concerning this area. Changes here should make a big difference to a lot of subscribers.

Here's what's new:

Decide how to follow conversations with Threaded and Unthreaded views

You now have more choice in how to follow conversations with the 'Threaded' and 'Unthreaded' replies dropdown box. Threaded means you see all comments sorted by conversation. Unthreaded lets you see all comments chronologically.

You can also sort by Oldest, Newest or Most Popular. Your choice of threading and sorting is remembered across all articles.

If you do choose to set comments to unthreaded, you can still follow the conversation threads by clicking on the 'Replies' button underneath the relevant comment.

Jump straight to new unread comments

It's simpler to jump straight to the comments you have not read in an article now, so you can cut out some scrolling and easily catch up on conversations.

As you scroll through the Discuss board, you'll see the number of comments in each thread that you have not yet read. To catch up on unread comments, simply click on the red 'Unread' counter to the right of the article title:

Clicking on this button will take you straight to the first unread comment in that article. Note that when you click through in this way, comments will be unthreaded. If you have set your view to threaded, this preference will still be there the next time you view an article. Once you have viewed the comment, the 'Unread' count automatically updates.

This function has been requested by quite a lot of users, so we hope you'll find it useful.

Discussion board now automatically refreshes

The Discuss area now automatically updates - you no longer have to hit refresh as all the latest articles, comments and votes will automatically appear on your screen.

See ticker shortcuts in articles and comments

You can quickly link to StockReports for UK-listed stocks in articles and comments by using '£ticker' shortcuts (for example Vodafone (LON:VOD)), meaning readers can jump straight to the StockReport of the company being discussed. This does not extend to international stocks or other securities yet but we will be…

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Rusty2

18th Oct '19

Hello Jack, Thanks, that is an improvement for me, could not get on with the threaded replies.

One thing though on the old system, it had the latest replies last and had page numbers, it seemed to default to the last page, on the new system if you have latest last you have scroll down which if there are over 800 replies it takes ages even on a desktop.

I can't this post on the new system yet, maybe because there have been no replies?

£G4M Vodafone (LON:VOD)

Still does not work on tickers with numbers?

Edward Croft

Gear4music Holdings (LON:G4M)

G4M works fine for me... you need to use the new site for the updates @herbie

OK I see, I switched back to the old system as I could not find this post on the new system.

Sully8786

Happy Days - it's working now.

Duke Royalty (LON:DUKE)

Jack Brumby

These product update posts are located in a specific part of the new site, Herbie - you can find them in the 'What's New' section of the Learn area.

Oliver Cooper

Hello herbie - you can find all updates in "What's New".

For each update a notification is shown in the top right of the new site. All historic updates are available in the Learn area.

OK but on the old site it's on the discussion board. How would I see them if I did not go into various different parts of the new site. I think you are making it too complicated.

leishylegs

Just wanted to say I think the Stocko team are doing an excellent job on the site development. Keep up the good work - love the new site and the proposed development roadmap.

InvestorJohn

19th Oct '19

D4t4 Solutions (LON:D4T4) is a tough one will it work??

EDIT: Yes it will great job!

stehuk

The worst case for tickers is if it's all numbers, such as 888. 888 Holdings (LON:888) shouldn't and doesn't get parsed as a ticker because it could be a monetary amount. It could be covered for example by allowing for a double £ sign in front of tickers that are all numbers, so £888 Holdings (LON:888) would be for a ticker but 888 Holdings (LON:888) wouldn't. It would just need an extension to the parsing rules to support it.

Edit: I was wrong. A single pound sign by 888 gets converted to a ticker. But it could be a number. I suggest double pound sign followed by a number should get converted to a ticker, but single pound sign shouldn't. I'm on the old system here. I'll try the example on the new system.

888 Holdings (LON:888)

So how can I enter pounds if this is the case?

@stehuk - there's only one all numeric ticker in the UK - 888. So this is an edge case and we're comfortable that someone wanting to type £ 888 is probably unlikely! We're planning on introducing a typeahead (like Facebook) in future which will provide more accuracy and flexibility... but we thought we'd do something simple and fast for now.

Farmer George

18th Nov '19

A facility to flag 'favourite' threads would be a useful addition.

Lion Tamer

30th Nov '19

Hello Jack

Today I noticed this comment from Paul Scott, regarding replies to previous comments without any reference to the topic being discussed. This is a frustration I experience too, and like Paul I usually can't be bothered to click the link to load the backlink, then to click again to get back where I was. I guess I'm just lazy, but doubt I'm alone in this.

One though how this could be improved is by tweaking the format of the new-comment input field to prompt for a subject line, either with two input fields (one labelled "subject" and the other "comment), or by changing the existing input field's comment from "What are your thoughts on this?" to something like
"What are your thoughts on this?
Subject:
Comment:"

Many thanks for all the ongoing development, Stockopedia is becoming an even better place to be all the time.

3rd Dec '19

Hello Lion Tamer,

I see the comment... I assume you are using the Unthreaded view? One way to get around this is to use Threaded view.

I can certainly log the suggestion.

4th Dec '19

Thanks Jack

I am indeed using unthreaded view. I tried threaded view for a few days but found it unworkable for my usage style for a couple of reasons. I'd know that new posts had been added since my last visit, but finding them as difficult, especially when there were a larger number to find. I'd end up re-reading the same comments time and time again. Also if I need to leave reading the comments before finishing all unread comments, then later start a new browsing session later (may on the mobile by now), it'd be impossible to remember what was read and unread. At least with unthreaded view, once you've found your place you simply carry on reading from that point onwards. (Edit: this issue that is made a little harder by the removal some time ago of post numbering).

Notwithstanding my own preferences for unthreaded view, I feel it would increase the user experience for all users to be primed about the topic of a commenter's post before reading it, especially if in a hurry (e.g. to locate all posts on your chosen share, maybe in times of market volatility, before deciding if to sell/buy or whatever).

Either way, many thanks for considering my suggestions. Whichever way you decide to go, I appreciate your ongoing work on the site. An active vibrant constantly improving site is preferable any day!

Released: discuss improvements, comment sorting and threading, ticker shortcuts and more...

Decide how to follow conversations with Threaded and Unthreaded views

Jump straight to new unread comments

Discussion board now automatically refreshes

See ticker shortcuts in articles and comments

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About the Author

Jack Brumby

16 comments

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