11/15/2020 changes SA basic New article/comment format ?!

Avatar
  • updated
  • Answered

Dear SA developers and IT, This new format for following articles is currently very confusing adapting from the previous version . Can you provide adjustments tutorial? i.e: where did the article "like" button go? , where is the Track/Untrack button? Why aren't all new comments not highlighted orange anymore in sync with the comment thread as replied to specific commentators using the (@ symbol) or not ?


The "bell" notification of new comments on articles followed is not showing new notify on the home page , I have to cursor prompt check?


It would also be nice to have some transparency to the endgame SA rationale for these changes ....whatever happened to sending out notices of changes /discuss/implement process?!


https://seekingalpha.com/news/3636393-rcep-trade-pact-is-signed-after-years-of-negotiations

Thank you in Adv. for your considerations and replies .

Pinned replies
Avatar
SA Jacob Maltz
  • Answer
  • Answered

Hi all thanks so much for your feedback.  Our primary reason for making these changes is to use the same page across our desktop and mobile platforms using Responsive web technology.    We have already finished our home and portfolio pages, and most of the symbol page, and we are now working on the news and opinion article pages.  At the moment we are testing a new version of our responsive news page on some of our users which is why you are seeing it.   

As you mentioned in your feedback, we do have an issue with the button for turning on tracking comments, our developers are working on it and it will be available ASAP inside a menu at the top of the comment section next to the sorting. As shown below:

Also, we created a new design for the "New" articles which is highlighted in green and works for mobile as well as desktop.  We also bold the new comment, which is currently in focus, so it is clear which comment you jumped to via the "Next" button although we are considering changing this bold design to a background color instead.  For example: 



Please keep in mind that there are a very large number of screen sizes and screen resolutions that people can be using and it is impossible for us to test all of them.   When you see a problem, please assume that it looks perfect on my laptop and that I need to understand what you are seeing so I can figure out if it is indeed something that we can fix for you and all users with a similar setup. The best way to do this is to paste a screenshot right into the report.  

All the best,

Jacob

Avatar
BabyBalrog
Quote from xerty

I agree very much with the prior criticism of these changes, and in particular want to point out the paywalling comments will result in much fewer people being able to comment, follow discussion, etc, and thereby reducing the value provided by SA as a whole.  I thought a fair bit about this and I don’t see anything other than it ending badly for the site and engagement.   

Good point that the whole "network effect" that makes things like comments valuable -  "engagement" is another way they put it - disappears when you can only look at a handful of articles a month. Poorly thought out. 

If YouTube limited the number of videos you could comment on.... just imagine

Avatar
BabyBalrog
Quote from Bitzap

I would also add that the hiding of some comments behind "show more replies" is really bad.  There's no good reason for that, it makes skimming through comments harder, and, it hides comments from searches -- if you search the page for some text you know is in a comment, then you'll fail to find the comments hidden behind the "show more replies" button.  Really bad usability.

This, 1000x

Avatar
xerty

I agree very much with the prior criticism of these changes, and in particular want to point out the paywalling comments will result in much fewer people being able to comment, follow discussion, etc, and thereby reducing the value provided by SA as a whole.  I thought a fair bit about this and I don’t see anything other than it ending badly for the site and engagement.   

Avatar
cadindo

It looks like you still havent fixed this.

I wonder what is the end game here? I know a number of people who are dropping off SA as they find the changes are not intuitive and are at worst idiotic. 

i understand you want to monetize everything but basic features such as "follow comments" should be left alone.

Having said that, the need to also put comments behind a paywall is also in my opinion a long term own goal. Quite a few people do follow a few companies and comment occasionally on articles of interest. To force someone to pay for this as a paywall actually forces down the quality of the commentary.

Avatar
Derf

Dear SA -- I agree with the comments above and think it is a bad thing for SA and needs to be fixed fast.  1, an emergency patch, and 2, user-test _any_ feature changes with a subset of users before rolling out to all (duh!).  This tracking comments fiasco is already cutting into the time people spend on SA -- since SA has cut off a big chunk of its eyeball-grabbing engagement.  You should be panicking about this.  I wish there was a way of tagging this comment as being extremely urgent.  That is a feature to consider going forward too!


Posted comments are a large source of interest-drawing content for SA.   At this point SA has an arterial bleed going on -- and a month has already been more than enough to start to drive users away.

As for mobile screen friendliness, no problem if the desktop format remains rich and nuanced.   But mobile users are more likely to use Fac3book and Twi44er for that and you are just debasing SA's value in down-chasing them.  Think about this, if SA becomes a bad version of Fac3book and Twi44er then a lot of SA users will just move over to them and you are going to 4ever lose those users -- is this what is going on now?   Another thing to panic about.

Maybe SA is trying to sell itself to Fac3book / Twi44er?   At this point in its existence that has to be a huge temptation.   It will be a very sad day should that come to pass as I refuse to use them and will delete my account on the spot.

Avatar
8675309 xyz

I am not sure if this is the same issue that I came here about, but I assume its related.  Now I receive notifications for new comments, but when I click the comments I am blocked from reading the comments.  It stopped for me a couple of weeks ago, then worked fine and now it no longer functions properly.  It also does appear to only occur randomly, it still works with some articles.

Avatar
21793061
Quote from SA Jacob Maltz

Hi all thanks so much for your feedback.  Our primary reason for making these changes is to use the same page across our desktop and mobile platforms using Responsive web technology.    We have already finished our home and portfolio pages, and most of the symbol page, and we are now working on the news and opinion article pages.  At the moment we are testing a new version of our responsive news page on some of our users which is why you are seeing it.   

As you mentioned in your feedback, we do have an issue with the button for turning on tracking comments, our developers are working on it and it will be available ASAP inside a menu at the top of the comment section next to the sorting. As shown below:

Also, we created a new design for the "New" articles which is highlighted in green and works for mobile as well as desktop.  We also bold the new comment, which is currently in focus, so it is clear which comment you jumped to via the "Next" button although we are considering changing this bold design to a background color instead.  For example: 



Please keep in mind that there are a very large number of screen sizes and screen resolutions that people can be using and it is impossible for us to test all of them.   When you see a problem, please assume that it looks perfect on my laptop and that I need to understand what you are seeing so I can figure out if it is indeed something that we can fix for you and all users with a similar setup. The best way to do this is to paste a screenshot right into the report.  

All the best,

Jacob

Jacob:

Not only are you degrading the desktop to the mobile look, people DON'T LIKE the mobile look even when on a phone!  Look how often people click desktop view.  

Avatar
tennis111
Quote from canyon

So agree with Biztap.  Tracking and Sorting are mutually exclusive needs/functionality.  Are you actually TRYING to ruin SA?

It's amazing that Seeking Alpha would make so many changes for the WORSE!!  Why would anyone do that????  It makes no sense at all.  

Avatar
canyon
Quote from Bitzap

I would also add that the hiding of some comments behind "show more replies" is really bad.  There's no good reason for that, it makes skimming through comments harder, and, it hides comments from searches -- if you search the page for some text you know is in a comment, then you'll fail to find the comments hidden behind the "show more replies" button.  Really bad usability.

Having to repeated click (in hundreds-long comments articles) is such bad usability.  Bandwidth and processing are not issues (this isn't the 1990s), just load the full page!!

Avatar
canyon
Quote from Bitzap

"As you mentioned in your feedback, we do have an issue with the button for turning on tracking comments, our developers are working on it and it will be available ASAP inside a menu at the top of the comment section next to the sorting. As shown below:"

The "Track Comments" options has nothing to do with sorting.  Putting it there while keeping the "Sort by" label is bad usability and discoverability.  Please at least change the label next to the drop down.  But really, this feature will be used much more frequently than the sort order, it should stay with its own button.  Reduce number of clicks to one for the most often used option.  Your change is going to require that users discover it, and then to do two clicks while one worked before.  Please please please hire a solid usability expert.  I say this with the best of intentions.

So agree with Biztap.  Tracking and Sorting are mutually exclusive needs/functionality.  Are you actually TRYING to ruin SA?