# The order of comments in other sites **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 17, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-order-of-comments-in-other-sites/707503 "2014-12-17T17:11:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-order-of-comments-in-other-sites/707503/1 "2014-12-17T17:11:07Z")
One of my favorite places, [Bring a trailer](http://bringatrailer.com/), has their comments newest first. IOW, to read them in order, which I imagine everyone would want to do, you have to scroll to the bottom and read up. Is there an advantage to that which I don’t see? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-order-of-comments-in-other-sites/707503/2 "2014-12-17T17:22:18Z")
Just a speculation: If you want to do some follow-up reading (after you’ve waded through the whole stack bottom-up) the newer things ought to be easier to find near the top. Side issue: What’s really fun is to have a multi-message email (or the like) where new stuff is added at either end! 🙂 This can be even more frustrating when it’s one that several have contributed things to. (One of those Reply All monsters.) ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-order-of-comments-in-other-sites/707503/3 "2014-12-17T17:23:25Z")
You can change the default. Look right above the reply box for this: \*\* Comments\*\* newest first | oldest first ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-order-of-comments-in-other-sites/707503/4 "2014-12-17T17:29:14Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > You can change the default. Look right above the reply box for this: > > \*\* Comments\*\* newest first | oldest first Crap! Why didn’t I see that? :smack::smack::smack: Can I go back in time and delete this thread? ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-order-of-comments-in-other-sites/707503/5 "2014-12-17T17:32:53Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Crap! Why didn’t I see that? :smack::smack::smack: > > Can I go back in time and delete this thread? 😃 Actually I don’t know why so many forums and news sites have the “newest first” as the default order. Although if you’re following a very active conversation, “newest first” makes sense because you don’t have to repeatedly scroll through the older posts to get to the newer ones. ---
**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-order-of-comments-in-other-sites/707503/6 "2014-12-17T17:37:58Z")
Like Twitter, you mean? I have no clue why they do that. It breaks my brain. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-order-of-comments-in-other-sites/707503/7 "2014-12-17T18:47:18Z")
> [@chiroptera](#): > > 😃 > > Actually I don’t know why so many forums and news sites have the “newest first” as the default order. Although if you’re following a very active conversation, “newest first” makes sense because you don’t have to repeatedly scroll through the older posts to get to the newer ones. On some sites, it makes sense. (Or at least more sense. I prefer things in chronological order, myself.) For example, many news sites don’t see comments as an ongoing discussion forum between users, just a way for users to respond to the writer of the original article. If that’s the case, the order of postings isn’t very important to them. As another example, the SDMB has a forum that’s smart enough to know what you have already read, so it’s possible to jump to the location of new posts and then read those chronologically. If a more simplistic site doesn’t do that, having to find what’s new is a little more work. ---
**Author:** ![Lubricious\_Integument](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@Lubricious\_Integument](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lubricious_Integument)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-order-of-comments-in-other-sites/707503/8 "2014-12-17T21:20:11Z")
This reminds me of the top-posting vs bottom-posting argument back in the days of usenet. A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation. Q: Why is top posting frowned upon? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in email?