New Dynamic Updating Discussions

Slashdot users of the Discussion2 system now have a new 'Update' button visible on their floating control slider, as well at the end of the discussion. This button will update your page to include comments posted since the page was loaded, so now you can keep discussion pages up to date without doing a full reload. It's nowhere near complete yet, but it's a nice step that goes a long ways towards making it easier to use larger discussions while they are actively updating. If you aren't using Discussion2, you need to log in, and toggle the checkbox visible on every page. You probably need bother only if you are using Firefox 1.5 or 2.x or Safari. You can send bug reports to me if you want.

Re:how is this better than irc?

[Lord Ender]

how is this better than irc?

How? It has moderation, karma, threads, no client requirements, no abusive bots, and is presented in a form more conductive to essays than to 1-liner chats. Need I go on?

Can I tell which comments are new since last view?

[schwaang]

That's what I really want.

A feature of dailykos that I like is that it keeps track of what's new since I last viewed a discussion, even if I close the discussion and re-open it later.

New comments are highlighted in red.

Also, if I reload the equivalent of the Slashdot front page, a topic I've seen before will say "X new comments".

Steal those f*cking features, Taco!

Re:how is this better than irc?

[Speare]

How? It has moderation, karma, threads, no client requirements, no abusive bots, and is presented in a form more conductive to essays than to 1-liner chats. Need I go on?

• My GP seems to be modded down as a troll even though I thought it was a reasonable observation and talking point, so I don't really see how moderation is helping.
• Karma is for the dogs, since it's capped and non-numeric and totally gamed by those who want to.
• Threads are the one thing I did mention, so thanks for reading and responding on it... oh, wait.
• Since it's heavily dependent on modern web browsers' dynamic features, I fail to see how there are no client requirements.
• If you think there are no bots that post to Slashdot, you have got to be joking. Have you read the cesspool of -1?
• If it's presented in a form more conducive to essays than to one-liners, why did you reply to my paragraph with a one-line answer?