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Comments on Why do we have "General comments" threads?

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Why do we have "General comments" threads?

+3
−1

Comments below posts are grouped into threads, each of which can have a meaningful name so several different conversations can happen in parallel with less risk of confusion.

However, sometimes the thread title is simply "General comments" which does not help the reader understand what the thread contains. Why does this sometimes happen?

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3 comment threads

General comments (2 comments)
When codidact switched from "normal comments" to threads, all the existing comments where converted t... (3 comments)
Somewhere to link to (1 comment)
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+2
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I'm one of the offenders, and the answer is quite simple: I often don't know what else to name it, even after several minutes of hard thinking. I want commmenting to be a task of ease, not a task of complication.

In addition, there are many sorts of comments that don't actually fit very well in their own buckets, and are better grouped with other ones; these comments form the group of general responses, hence the name: "general comments". Just because we can have different buckets for every comment, doesn't mean we should.

One can always revisit the name of a comment thread later on, if the set of general comments actually turned out to have something not so general in common.

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3 comment threads

The ability to edit thread titles (3 comments)
Show some example. (5 comments)
There's always something you can say (4 comments)
There's always something you can say
Olin Lathrop‭ wrote 10 months ago

This is advocating sloppy practice that makes it harder for everyone else to use the system. You know what you just wrote. You can always find a few words that give some hint what the larger comment is about.

Andreas witnessed the end of the world today‭ wrote 10 months ago · edited 10 months ago

See, here's an example of comment threads being in my way; you decided to split up the same thing into two different comment threads, so now we're stuck with the consequences of that.

You can always find a few words that give some hint what the larger comment is about.

Clearly I can't, and you'll have to take my word for it.

"I often don't know what else to name it" is a cop-out, and is an excuse trying to give yourself permission to be irresponsible.

You have no basis of saying that. If you'd known me, you'd also know that I put quality high. You're applying intentions to me that are not true.

It is true, however, that I want commenting to be easy, and that is just as valid as your criticism of comment threads lacking better naming.

Link to a few such comments. We can probably come up with reasonable titles that tell you something about the content.

Just because you are able to figure out an appropriate title, doesn't mean I am. But yeah, give me some time; I will.

I also see you've chosen to completely ignore my second paragraph, where I actually attempt to argue that having such comment threads, is sometimes the best of two options. That is not sloppy.

Examples where I think "General comments" is reasonable (sometimes I just don't think every comment deserves its own thread. I don't want a million threads with 1 comment in each):

Examples where I was unable to come up with another title:

Can't remember which it was:

Apparently, I gave it no title here:

And it seems like that's it. Unless somebody renamed some threads I started, there are no more. So your assumption that I'm just trying to cut corners, is obviously wrong.