Comment scrolling is broken. Comments are unsearchable, etc etc.

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What on earth are you guys doing with this new web design?  Was it even tried by anyone who uses the site?

1.  It appears to be forcing the Mobile Version to the desktop web.  Somehow I was able to re-access the "old" version, and saw a banner across the entire top of the screen that said "USE MOBILE VERSION".  ???  I'm on Desktop Chrome -- I DON'T WANT THE MOBILE VERSION.

2.  Comments are unsearchable now because they don't all load when the page loads.  So, going into an article and searching for your username to find your comment no longer works.  Brilliant.


3.  Scrolling down on the comments (which is now required to load more) loads some number of new comments and then scrolls BACK UP automatically.  Brilliant.  Rinse & repeat this 1,000 times to get to the bottom.

This is the least tested, worst rollout of a re-design I've ever seen.

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Alchete

Hi Jacob,

Thank you very much for the response and let me also apologize for the tone of my post.  I was pretty frustrated as you can probably tell, but I'm happy to be more helpful. :)

First, yes I have Chrome Developer Tools installed.  I also use the Android app.  I'm a c++ desktop UI developer, not a web dev, so I can't give you any web specifics but can hopefully provide you with some good, detailed feedback so the site can improve for all.

Desktop here means  Chrome.  Mobile means Android.

1.  Desktop/Mobile cross-up.  I can't reproduce the large banner I saw when the mobile/desktop sites got crossed.  However, on a related note, I assume you are aware that clicking in different spots on an article banner (desktop) yield different sites.  Clicking on the "New Comments" yields the new mobile site (on Desktop).

2.  Comment issues.  Regarding comments, there are several bugs/behaviors to mention.

  2a) Notifications.  On desktop, you only get notified if someone uses the "@" symbol tagging your username.  On mobile (Android), you are notified if anyone replies to your comment regardless of whether they use the "@" symbol.

For me, the mobile notification is more useful because people don't always remember to use "@".  The best implementation (IMO) would be to notify for both cases.  Both "@" and direct replies.

  2b)  Lack of auto-scrolling on mobile (Android).  On Android after receiving a popup notification that someone has replied to my comment, I tap the notification and am brought to the article.  However -- the article does not scroll to my comment.  You can imagine what this is like on an article with 1,000 comments, trying to find the reply. :)  


Notifications Solutions -- 

-  Notify the user for "@" and direct replies.

-  On Mobile, scroll correctly to the exact reply when the popup is pressed.

-  Tag all comments with a "hyperlink" or similar technique, so auto-scroll is possible.

3.  So, given the difference in Notification behavior between Desktop and Mobile my use-model has become:
a) Turn off "Track Comments" on an article on which I've commented.

b) Wait for a mobile notification (which tells me both of "@" and direct replies.

c) If the mobile notification was a reply and not a "@" then the desktop notification doesn't exist.  So I go to the article on Desktop and search for my name.

d) Searching for one's name no longer works on the new Desktop site because all comments don't load.

e) Give up

Ideas to find your own comment

- Maybe if a desktop browser is detected load all comments as was previous behavior

- Maybe have a button that shows only threads with your comments

3.  (New) desktop site auto-scrolling backward when "Load More Replies" is clicked.  I see this 100% of the time on Windows and Mac (Chrome).  You should be able to reproduce it as follows.  

- Find a collapsed comment thread (on the new Desktop site)

- Click on "Load More Replies"

- The replies are loaded, but the comment section also scrolls back to the top.


I made a quick video to illustrate: https://streamable.com/xz0uxt

Thanks.  I can possibly do a Zoom call if still needed if you guys still need some more clarity on these items.  

Cheers.