Fleshbot Comments: Now Threaded For Your Pleasure

Used to be we couldn't get anyone to comment on Fleshbot ... and now we're having a hard time getting some of you to shut up! Har, har! But seriously, folks, some of you may have noticed a recent change on Fleshbot: as of yesterday afternoon, the comments section for each post looks different. It's a new threaded system which organizes comment replies more logically and makes following discussions easier. If you're curious as to how it all works, go ahead and start experimenting with the new system yourself... or read on for an explanation what this "threaded" stuff means (and how it will help us all down our ass smoothies that much quicker).

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What's threaded commenting?

Threading is a way to make comments read more like conversations instead of a bunch of disconnected single replies. Now, when someone says something interesting enough to get replies from other readers, all those replies will appear directly below the original comment. Each of these blocks is called a "thread"—kind of like in Gmail.

The first comment in a thread will have a few distinguishing features, among them, the number of replies in the thread along with the time of the most recent reply.

Click the arrow on the lower right side to open a reply input box directly underneath the comment—there's no need to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to reply.

Replies (and replies to replies, and replies to replies to replies) will not be indented as is the custom in most forums. Instead, they will be collapsed.

What's the deal with the star again?

Star commenters were readers who have 25 or more followers, or were designated as stars by a comments admin. With the introduction of threading, the number of followers required to attain star is increasing to 40. Commenter admins also hand out stars to commenters who may not have 40 followers, but illuminate our lives with flashes of brilliance.

Is there a way to view comments the "old-fashioned" way?

You can switch to the old style comments layout by clicking the "classic view" link in the comments bar at the top of the threads.

That's it! If you have any other questions about commenting on Fleshbot, feel free to consult our Comments FAQ. Happy commenting!