Question

What happens if you delete your answer in a question thread? Does it delete responses to your post?
Nuther feature request: Indent slightly and allow replies to replies, so longer threads are... well.. threaded.

Answer 1

No it only deletes your answer, but if you delete your question it deletes all the replies to it.

Answer 2

Yeah- i don't think that's such a good idea. It allows people to get answers, then delete the whole thread- which doesn't help others with similar questions. Folks should be accountable for what they write.

Answer 3

Responses aren't threaded, and intentionally so. Early revisions were threaded, but the paradigm on OpenStudy is more a single conversation, almost chat-like but with more in-depth posts, than it is a threaded forum conversation.

Answer 4

So how do you keep the conversation on track- since anything complex necessarily leads to multiple related threads? This one is an example. I'm replying to @shadowfiend, but could just as well be replying to ash2326...
(or asking for more features- when are we going to see the @ pull up username <evil grin>?)

Answer 5

The same way you do with any chat :) With that powerful weapon called your mind.

We have little interest at the moment in implementing threading. If you really want to start a separate conversation based on a related question, feel free to post it as a new question.

Answer 6

To be more specific, we consider that the simplicity of the current interface beats the occasional added convenience of threading handily. The simplicity of the current interface is rooted in two things: (1) no wasted space for threading indentation and (2) the fact that the entire conversation can be followed linearly, which is something that is impossible with threading.

If I get a notification that there's been a reply, I know exactly where to find it and any other replies since the notification (at the bottom). We think that's really important for a site oriented towards students who are looking for answers.

Answer 7

Perhaps my mind is more feeble as I get older (damn if i don't sound like my dad now )@(*$)%) - the beauty of really good design is it lends itself to thing that, as Honda put it once, "just work".

So back to ash2326's reply to my question... what happens if I delete one of my posts that's mid-way down thru the conversation. Does it delete mine, leaving the replies, or is it all replies after that replies after that?

One possible fix, which is in moodle (and is hardly an example of great design, but has a few things worth noting) is that a teacher can split a thread. So this thread could be split (by you, say) into another conversation about threading- since the original question was about deleting.

Answer 8

Only yours. More sophisticated splitting and such might be something we'll do in the future.

We agree with you, which is why we generally think threading is bad design, at least for the use cases on OpenStudy ;)

Answer 9

@divonbriesen try now for your pull-down :p

Answer 10

Oh you can tag people now?! That's coool :DD

Answer 11

@shadowfiend sweeeeeeeeeeeeeettt....

Answer 12

@shadowfiend i'm sitting here in charlotte, reading an article about all you guys on macbook air's sitting in a fishbowl in frisco, bragging to my hackerspace buddy about how cool your company is, and trying to find that conversation we engaged in (unless it was with @farmdawgnation ) and i can't find it, or the copy I thought i saved. The question was about the technology stack you use, and i'm really bummed i can't find it- any help?

Answer 13

Now what I can't figure out is why when I type the @shadowfiend, it pops up, but when i type @funny or @farmdawgnation it does not... although once i post it it will link..., confused.

Answer 14

If you are fan of someone or if a user is online
then it'll pop up

Answer 15

like this @divonbriesen

Answer 16

@ash2326 - thanks! So you don't pop up because we're not friends I guess. Let's change that and test.

Answer 17

@ash2326 i meant fan, not friends. Works now. Awesome. Now if i can just find that technology stack...

Answer 18

@divonbriesen technology stack?

Answer 19

@ash2326 see above- i was having a chat with one of the programmers here and asked about their technology stack. He gave me a really detailed responses (i teach this stuff so wanted some real life stuff to talk about) and i can't for the life of my find it- even htough normally i'd paste that into my notes elsewhere to keep it.

Answer 20

cool :D

Answer 21

Give me an hour or two, I'll track it down when I'm up for the day hehe.

Answer 22

Here you go: http://openstudy.com/users/divonbriesen#/updates/4f41c098e4b0803c6353192f

I trawled through the Questions Answered list of your profile, just so you know how I found it :) Since you haven't answered too many, it wasn't a very time-consuming search :D

Answer 23

Yeesh- i swear i spent a good while looking for this last time. Now you post how you did it, and without clicking on your link, i use the same method and find it in 2 minutes! @#*($&%)$%( Maybe it's because it was under answers, and I assumed it was a question? Anyway, got it now- thanks bunches @shadowfiend !