How would you make a topic with 1,600 replies user-friendly and accessible?

[AdamWargon]

Imagine you had a forum thread with 1,600 replies, filled with fantastic content . . .

You know you’re seriously into iNat when

How would you make it more accessible to new users?

@kmv

I was thinking . . . that the system could auto-close a discussion after some number of replies, with a message like “this thread is reaching its contribution limit and will auto-close at 100 replies."

@mira_l_b

The issue with this is discussions will be repeated with no easy way to track the beginning of the “thread.”

[DianaStuder]

https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/you-know-youre-seriously-into-inat-when/1992/2?filter=summary

Click - Show Top Replies - on the opening post. That gives you the 100 most engaged comments (then you can click for more if interested in That Surviving comment)

[AdamWargon]

@DianaStuder

Click - Show Top Replies - on the opening post. That gives you the 100 most engaged comments (then you can click for more if interested in That Surviving comment)

Thanks, @DianaStuder!

I love the “Show top replies” function, and I use it all the time! It’s great, but it doesn’t always highlight the replies that YOU might find the most valuable.

The “Search in this topic” function is also helpful, but it only searches for the exact wording that you use.

I created an AI prompt to read the thread and highlight the general ideas that you might be looking for. It didn’t work perfectly, but this technology is improving all the time!

[theresephillips]

Here’s a random thought, how about we have an option for an AI summary feature for these long threads for those who don’t have the time to go through all the replies. And can we have a button for coming to the top when a reply is at the very bottom of the thread when there is 1049 replies since I want to see the original post?

[jdmore]

@theresephillips

And can we have a button for coming to the top

I don’t know how the Forum looks on a phone-sized screen, but if you are using on a large/full screen at least, you can click on the topic title at top, and it will take you to the first post. Or you can click on the date of the first post on the timeline bar at right.