Hello internet friends, enemies, and people we’re slightly afraid might one day bomb the office. You may have noticed some recent changes to our commenting system, most notably the addition of “like” and “dislike” buttons, and the ability to subscribe to comment threads (no more annoying hitting “refresh!” until 3 in the morning!). You’ll also notice that comments are no longer numbered—but don’t worry! Bringing them back is on the to-do list, and in the meantime I guess referring to posts by name/time stamp is the next best option.
Bigger than the changes to our commenting system, though, are the upgrades to our mobile site—which now works on all phones with a browser including Android, iOS, Windows, Blackberry, etc. Merc Mobile has been completely revamped—event and restaurant info is now more easily searchable, and (this is awesome) the restaurant page now features menus. Plus, our blog, current issue, and issue archives are much easier to access and search. All told, it’s a pretty giant improvement. Just dial up portlandmercury.com on your phone, and tap the “mobile version” link.
Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments. I look forward to down voting them.
LIKE/DISLIKE IS AWFUL. I’D LIKE IT REMOVED.
LIKE/DISLIKE IS AN AFFRONT TO OUR SHARED HUMANITY. I’D LIKE TO SEE IT TAKEN OUT BEHIND THE WOODSHED AND SHOT.
Sorry, Graham, we only have chemical sheds.
I would like the like/dislike feature more if it actually did something. Like 50 dislikes on your comment would get it deleted. Or for every 1,000 likes you get a free submarine sandwich. Free sandwich! Otherwise, like/dislike is just a pointless point system.
I LOVE THE ALL CAPS ERRRrrrr dislike….. button.
I love to like my own stuff.
Like/dislike would make sense if there was more traffic around here, but there honestly isn’t except in racist/homophobe troll threads. Mostly the giant shiny thumbs are distracting.
Big thanks on the new mobile site, it looks terrific on my Android phone. Much easier to get movie times now.
Also, why isn’t it called “Upclickles,” “Downclickles”?
Fun!
Now if you will excuse me, I have to take a dump.
We need three buttons. “Like”, “Dislike”, and “Shut up, vegan”.
Screw re-adding the numbers to the comments thread. Only lamos refer to others by post number.
Can’t wait to check out the mobile site!
@ROM: Well said. I am not a number, I am a human being.
Also, your new commenting system is racist against diacritical marks!
I want to see stats perodically with most “liked” and “disliked” comments. Perhaps you can get an intern to count them up weekly, and you can print them up in that thing you keep leaving at cafes and on the street corners.
@ Sūṕër Ḉḩüñdŷ: Ha! That looks like a UTF-8 / latin-1 issue. Probably something they can fix.
Can people who are not registered users like/dislike?
Also, it’s possible to both like and dislike a single comment. That’s kind of weird. (Sorry, Stu. I tested on yours.)
Getting six or eight “likes” is a pretty much worthless on Facebook and it’s even more a waste of time here because it’s anonymous and thus the (dis)approval is even more vapid.
As I said elsewhere in a comment that a couple of people liked and a few people disliked (Why? Who knows? Who cares?):
I doubt anyone cares what a tiny handful of anonymous likers like or dislikers dislike (why would they?). Of all the traffic that comes to this blog, I’m seeing only a few likes or dislikes on each comment. Could anything be more trivial?
I guess some folks want to have “input” without having to bother using their words.
And for what? The best commenters probably don’t need petty encouragement, and the worst ones won’t care if they’re disliked.
Not sure I like defaulting to the mobile site on my iPhone, but at least it doesn’t completely suck like the WWeek one.
It seems as though, by rights, the like/dislike function ought to be added to the blog entries written by the Mercury staffers themselves. I don’t know why we lowly readers should bear the full brunt of this divide-and-conquer strategy.
@Joneser: if you change your thumbsparkle, it removes the like or dislike after a couple seconds delay.
What’s with the five stars next to our names when previewing a comment?
What does everyone think about ROM’s point re: numbers? I like them—i think they make conversations easier to follow, and also I am lazy and numbers are less typing, but it’s not necessarily something we have to bring back.
Looking into the star question, btw.
How about a “reply” option for each comment?
Otherwise, make the like/dislike icons black.
@azure (UGH SO ARDUOUS)
yeah, we’re gonna tone down the color of those buttons.
Why are usernames and date/time medium-light gray against a light gray background? Could be easier to read.
Thanks, Alison. I think I may be in the minority, though (though I’m being serious when I say that most often the people who refer to others by their post number are tools). Plus since they were in place at one point, if you go back and read those threads, it would be hard to make sense of them.
The numbering is super useful. Sometimes a bat shit crazy person makes several posts. It’s useful just to respond to the one terribly idiotic one you’re referencing in your marvelous, perfectly constructed and blistering comment. Sorry ROM. You know I got your back on… like… other things.
I’m intrigued by Facebook connect. Half in and half out on that. Typically I’m pretty OKAY with standing by my comments with my real face and ID. But other times I like the anonymity of RPing a barely sentient cup of fruit. Who knows?
Will the mobile app let you comment? I never figured out if it was possible on the old one. If not, I probably will never use it. Love the changes to the regular site though! Keep up the good work, and thanks IT staff!
DISLIKE LIKE/DISLIKE.
LIKE MOBILE.
a) I know what thumbs up and thumbs down mean. I don’t need a distracting color or a extra wording telling me what these things mean. It’s already really busy, and it doesn’t add anything to have the words and colors.
b) nested comments solves all the numbering/reply problems. Just steal the AV Club’s system (though their ‘likes’ notation is almost invisible)
Blech! Nested commenting systems are pure crap packed with business, ever shrinking margins, and newbs who post in the wrong place constantly. Please do NOT nest comments!
In my opinion, tone down the colors on the like and dislike hands so they are subtle. Maybe the same gray as the copy stating the like/dislike counts.
Then tell us to all shut the fuck up. If we’re so bloody brilliant and knowledgable about site design you’d be posting comments on our site rather than us posting comments on your site.
Keep up the good work. Tone down the colors. Done. Move along. Have a nice day and all of that.
The like/dislike feature is something I’ve dreamed of seeing on Blogtown for years (yes, I’m really that big of a nerd).
The comment numbering system that was is probably not a complete show stopper feature, but it sure is challenging to have any semblance of a conversation among the commenters when there’s no visible and intuitive way of relating one comment reply to its predecessor.
There’s a ton of web talent here in Portland that design systems at least as complex as this, and there’s a ton of UX talent here too who would probably be able to make some killer suggestions. I’d sure love to see Blogtown’s UX blow my mind.
I agree with Cup re: numbering. It definitely has its uses.
And again; if you want to be exactly as relevant as Yahoo! Answers, by all means continue with this “like/dislike” shit.
Alison: instead of toning it down, why not replace it with a fun picture? Like happy kitten, sad kitten?
Has anyone else noticed that you can both like and dislike the same comment? I like that, yet I dislike it.