Slashdot Discussion System Updates 345
So D2 now remembers what you have read. This will mostly be useful to readers who use the key bindings to navigate -- we didn't really want to guess if you've read something, but if you use the WASD keys to navigate, moving on from a comment flags it as read. Read comments are slightly faded, and if you re-enter a discussion a few hours later, it should remember what you've read.
We've simplified comment retrieval as well. If you get to the 'End' of a discussion and try to get more comments (either by clicking one of the various 'More' links, or by pressing a keybinding like S or D that tells us to move on to the next comment) a dialog box will show up asking you if you would like to lower your threshold. So if you normally read at Score:4, and read to the end of the Score:4 comments, it will offer to lower your threshold to Score:3 either for all time, or just for this page. This means you don't need to constantly raise and lower your threshold to handle discussions of different sizes. This works really nicely.
Lastly is a user preference in the pref pane labeled 'Collapse Comments After Reading.' I'm actually considering making this one on by default but I'm open to feedback. It does what it says -- after you've navigated off a comment (using the keybindings again), it collapses the comment you just left. This makes it very easy to keep your place in a discussion as it grows. This is especially useful in discussions where you want to leave a tab open for several hours, or else come back later and figure out what's new.
There are undoubtedly bugs: feel free to email me or post them to the bug tracker. Thanks to pudge for hacking all this stuff too. Especially the bugs -- he wrote those first.
Re:AWSD (Score:5, Informative)
Similar thing it does in games...
W = Up
S = Down
A = Out Of Thread and/or Last
D = Into Thread and/or Next
Moderator Points? (Score:3, Informative)
Posted AC just in case its a bug even though I rarely use up all 5.
Re:Give us a classic option (Score:5, Informative)
Re:AWSD (Score:5, Informative)
Re:D2 broken in FF3? (Score:5, Informative)
Clear your cache. It worked for me the last time I got that message.
Re:no h-j-k-l? (Score:5, Informative)
Did you guys even try to use HJKL?
It works perfectly for me.
Re:my own follow-up (Score:5, Informative)
I'm pretty sure that quite a while back one of my moderations was meta-modded as stupid (or whatever, I can't be bothered with meta anymore) and I got an email for it and the user in question lost (or regained) the point. I don't think that Slashdot really needs to hand out gold stars for doing a decent job of moderating.
Re:no h-j-k-l? (Score:2, Informative)
Mod parent super informative.
HJKL does in fact work.
Ads Block Moderation Details (Score:3, Informative)
When I view moderation details by clicking the "Score:N" link next to the comment's Subject, the page of moderation types and totals is often blocked by a banner ad at the top. The banner blocks the "close X" at the top right of the details, so clicking there is clicking on the banner's link, not the "X" that closes the details and returns to the basic view of the comment.
Instead I have to go back a page, and then forward a page to return to the basic view of the comment. It's a pain in the ass, especially if I accidentally click the banner to "close", and then have to come back from some ad page that's tricked me into visiting.
A sneaky way for Slashdot to increase its banner clicks, while making us hate the advertisers and Slashdot.
Re:Not working (Score:5, Informative)
From the FAQ:
"Currently, D2 is not supported in IE6- since these days only 10% of Slashdot readers use IE6, and that population is shrinking daily, we don't intend to work on compatibility."
Re:no h-j-k-l? (Score:3, Informative)
h-j-k-l does work for navigation. I use it all the time
Re:Logging in without having to navigate away ... (Score:5, Informative)
I wholeheartedly agree with you. This is less useful than it was before, and would be a great improvement.
However, as a better workaround, note that the following works:
1. Hit reply, realize you aren't logged on.
2. Open the "log in now" link in a new tab. Switch to that tab and log in on that tab.
3. Return to the original tab, type out your reply.
4. When you hit the preview button, it updates you as logged in.
This way you don't have to navigate back and find the post to reply to. As you said, it would be much easier if the log in boxes were right here on the same page.
Re:Wake me up when the moderation system is improv (Score:2, Informative)
As a slight aside, for about a year I was getting mod points EVERY sat. at 5PM
Re:no h-j-k-l? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I'm new here, (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Give us a classic option (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Require Downmodders to Justify (Score:3, Informative)
That's what metamoderation [slashdot.org] is for.
Re:Display bugs (Score:3, Informative)
That's funny, because the only bug I've ever reported (if you've moderated a discussion, you couldn't post using the D2) got fixed within the week and is currently working.