Yup, 100% agree. In fact, just yesterday, I posted an all to often seen comment"was that directed at me"? Because what the person said was, well, either directed at me but seemed like it missed the point I was discussing or it was directed at someone upthread.
I try, at least whenever I think about it, to quote at least part of the person’s post*. So I don’t have to worry about the arrow.
*But, never, ever ever the entire post. Always leave [at least] that last period or something else meaningless so Discourse doesn’t “helpfully” decide you don’t need the quote.
I’m going to pretend this is a democracy and add my vote in favor of this tweak. A reply to the immediately previous post should be distinguishable at a glance from a reply to the thread generally. Currently, it is not. Preservation of the arrow icon is the simplest, clearest way to achieve this.
because that would be confusing. It looks like you expected to be replying to the person above you (puzzlegal) but someone else sneaked in the middle. If you had hit the reply to puzzlegal icon and someone sneaked in between, the reply icon should show up because it only doesn’t show up for the post above which now doesn’t apply to your post. If you hit the general reply, then the icon wouldn’t show up.
It’s been many, but yes, that one. Someone snuck in when I specifically hit reply to Puzzlegal, leaving my post without a reply arrow or at least direct connection to the one above it.
I do know how it works, and didn’t just hit a general reply. Perhaps my post and the one between hers and mine posted virtually simultaneously and it was buggy.
Regardless, a default reply arrow would clarify any situation.
Likewise. I’m fine with the reasoning behind the automatic deletion when someone quotes the entirety of the immediately preceding thread, it’s unnecessary bloat. But keeping the little arrow to indicate who you’re replying to should be an easy fix, removes annoying ambiguity, and takes up no real estate.
It didn’t. The post above yours posted 2 minutes before yours at 7:56 am. Yours posted at 7:58 am. The time stamps are not the same, so it would be strange for them to be considered simultaneous.
I think a reply arrow should have shown up in that case, so that might be a different issue than the one in the thread.
I’m pretty sure (not 100%) that I’ve done this before. I’ve replied to someone and then while I’m typing, I can see someone else replying. They get their post in before mine, and my post has a reply icon. That said, I quote a lot, so that might make a difference. I also watch before I post to see if someone beat me and add the quote before I hit the reply. I’ll try to watch for this in the future.
Yes, but the different problems require different solutions. There are at least 3 issues in the thread.
1- no icon if posting right below
2- no differentiating from a reply to OP or reply to poster above
3- no icon if poster posted before you while you were typing
3 shouldn’t be happening, I think.
1 can be fixed at the SDMB admin level.
2 is a more difficult problem because there would have to be two different icons to differentiate between the OP posting the first post and the OP posting within the thread. From what I’ve read, it’s a more difficult fix.
I’d slightly amend that - when you quote the entirety of the immediately preceding post, you are not hitting the Reply button. Since the software deletes the quote, it should insert the arrow in this situation too.
That’s already true, except in the one case where you’re replying to the poster above you. In that case, that setting can be changed by the SDMB admin.
The only other time there’s no arrow is when people are replying to the topic in general.
Edit: There’s no arrow here, I think because I quoted and didn’t hit the reply. Let’s see if I hit the reply.
I’m differentiating the two exceptions because the second exception has different ramifications. In the second exception, the person is posting to the topic in general.
If you’re saying that these posts should also have an arrow, I don’t agree. Because the arrow would have to default to the OP. It would look like everyone is talking to the OP and no one is just open to conversation. In an IMHO thread, a large portion of the thread would look like they’re all talking to the OP. That’s not very inviting.
Another example is for really old and long threads. The OP might be long gone or sometimes even dead. But if someone comes in to make a general post, it would look like the person is posting to that specific person who started the thread. It would get confusing.
It might also look like the person who started the thread is pretty popular because their avatar is everywhere. But it’s just that they started the thread.
I think there would also be ramifications for the notification system. If people quote you, there’s one notification and if people reply to you, there’s another one and if people just post to the thread, there’s a third. As the OP, you would get notified as if most of the people were replying just to you…
If you’re not saying that, and you’re just saying that when you hit reply to a poster in particular, then the arrow should appear, then it already does that except to the post above. That’s not a Discourse issue. That can be changed at the board admin level.