Revamped Comment Buttons + New Ways To Buy Techdirt Credits
from the fixing-things-up dept
If you haven't noticed, we tend to do things a bit differently around here sometimes. While other sites are looking at ways to ban you from reading their site if you use an ad blocker, we've made it easy for people to block ads on Techdirt if they feel that the ads are a problem. And while more and more sites are turning off comments, we've always believed that the comments on Techdirt are integral to the site and a huge part of the experience here. Over the years, we've added a few things here and there to keep the comment section vibrant -- including the "insightful" and "funny" buttons, which let you vote and help to highlight the most insightful and funniest comments (and we highlight the best ones every week in a separate post).A few years back, we also added what we call "credits" -- which can be used to tag any particular comment as the "first word" or "last word." This would help to really highlight a particular comment by reposting it on top of the comments or beneath the comments, with a highlighted background and presentation, designating it as a comment you really wanted people to see. This feature was mostly only available to our supporters who bought various blog perk subscriptions, such as the Techdirt Crystal Ball (which also lets you read some of our stories before they're available to the wider public), the Techdirt Watercooler (which lets you join our insider chat) or the full Behind the Curtain package that lets you really see a bunch of posts in progress, as well as join the insider chat.
As you may have seen (since we turned it on last night), we've revamped the comment buttons a bit, in particular, opening up the "first word/last word" system. Here are the key changes:
- You can now just buy Techdirt Credits directly in the store, rather than getting them with a package or other purchase. There are bulk discounts as well, so buy a bundle of them. So this is a great way to both get a cool feature for yourself that helps promote good comments -- and to support Techdirt at the same time.
- You can now take credit for giving someone a "first word" or "last word." In the past, no one (not even me) knew who was giving comments "first word" or "last word" honors. Now, there's an option every time you promote someone's comments to first word or last word status, you can let the world know you did it by checking the box that says "put my name in lights, too!" This is optional, but something we felt was worthwhile. If you're promoting someone's comment, take a bow yourself as well.
- The buttons have been revamped. The old "word" voting buttons were getting a bit stale, so the look has been totally refreshed.
- The "first word/last word" buttons are now in the voting bar with the others. Even though these aren't "votes" in the same sense, it made sense to put them all in the same place.
We're still working on some more features as well (for the comments and for, well, basically the rest of the site). So stay tuned...
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: comments, first word, last word
Reader Comments
The First Word
“made the First Word by BentFranklin
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
The LOL comment
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: The LOL comment
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Just one more button
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
LOL - hard to make out that it says LOL.
FW and LW need better blurb as to what they are/do.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
Haven't tried it, but do the FW/LW show up for people not logged in or who have no credits? Figure if they are hidden, then the folks who have credit know what the FW/LW buttons do (but it doesn't really matter, tooltips is turned on, so if you move you mouse over the button, it tells you what it means.)
I actually like the new buttons, but agree that the green buttons are too green, maybe a lighter green will make those show up better.
Other than that, the new buttons are great.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
WWKD
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
Why not, you show up here to comment all the time...stop being a freeloader and actually pay for content.
I've got so many credits they tend to go to waste each month...but I've always liked that Mike eats his own dogfood in the CWF+RtB (Connect With Fans+Reason to Buy) model that he has always been selling. Just wish the entertainment industry would learn to follow this model instead of the EMM+FCTB+CTPA (Enforce/Extend My Monopoly+Force Customers To Buy at unreasonable prices/with unreasonable caveats+Call Them Pirates Anyway) model they currently employ.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: WWKD
I've always been a fan of treating the first word/last word as a counter, where the current winner gets first or last words, and that way if I think something is a first word, but everyone else who has paid disagrees, their first word wins. I've always viewed the current model as a recipe for disaster (and even worse now) in that any spammer or troll can promote their comment to the first/last word and we are stuck with it. Don't know how easily it can be implemented, but figure this would be a good fix for the "insurance" aspect, since you aren't guaranteed to have the first or last word.
But I think a system like that would be a little too close to Reddit's...so YMMV.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
You're not the only one, and its our hope that we can inject some new life into FW/LW to make it a more useful feature so you insiders get more bang for your subscription buck. We're planning to unveil a revamp of the FW/LW spots themselves soon, to make them more eye-catching and better highlight the commenter's name - and we're open to any suggestions people have on that front.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
How about you guys have a pow-wow and chose your favourite shade of green.
While you are doing re-design, can you let the site expand outward for people with hi-res monitors? The site is mostly white borders on my 15in Retina macbook.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
It's against Web Design 101 to put dark on dark.
Please use only white text/imagery on dark.
I recommend adding another pixel between the buttons to expand the spacing between them. They look too bunched together.
Not an option. Web design is what I do for a living.
Glad to see Techdirt showing what others need to learn. There's a reason I keep subscribing.
I was perusing my old comments and was wondering how difficult it would be to highlight our comments in a "Best of" page which would include only the LOLs and Insightful posts?
Also, about that forum....
>:]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
No edit option yet, so allow me to correct my post's "Not an option" with "Not an opinion".
I only use "Not an option" when speaking with Sherman or Dodd.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Oh, and here i was going to say i enjoyed the colors
Of course, a user choice could be provided from a few CSS. Handy anywhere, but few sites do it.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Oh, and here i was going to say i enjoyed the colors
I cringe when I see them, but that's just my profession screaming.
:P
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Just one more button
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
Nobody else seems to be doing this, but it seems like a no-maintenance method of handling things. Hey... you could even make it credits-based so that you need a credit each time you modify your post.
Probably not a good idea to let people edit each other's posts, but it would enable fixes/clarifications without enabling outright censorship (the post long is still there in perpetuity).
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Expanded format
Set "Page Width" to variable.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
The *voting* remains the same. Anyone can vote funny or insightful (or report). But the first/word last word is separate from the voting.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Expanded format
Has this always been a thing? Arrrgghhhhh!!!!!!!
Variable page width for the WIN!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Expanded format
Yes, pretty much since we launched fixed width... There was maybe a week when it didn't work and then people requested it and it's been there ever since...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Oh, and here i was going to say i enjoyed the colors
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Formatting and editing comments
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Formatting and editing comments
WYSIWYG formatting or in-place preview (so you don't lose the context of the comment being replied to) would certainly be nice.
Just avoid that WYSIHYD thing.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Comment notify checkbox & preview
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
For a music forum, it's remarkably civil.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
DNL paid upvotes
First word/last word are both forms of voting. You have merely made *some* forms of voting available for sale. First word is a god mode upvote. Allowing people to *buy* these positions in the comments is the comments section equivalent of allowing writers to buy the ability to post editorial content (as opposed to *advertising* content).
I applaud Techdirt's commitment to creating reasons to voluntarily pay for free content, and I do not use ad blockers, or the ad blocking feature of Techdirt, because I want to support this site and it's editorial content and mission. I also appreciate Techdirt's clear labeling of StackCommerce affiliate marketing content, unlike some sites, such as BoingBoing, which co-mingle editorial and advertising content without clear labeling. However, these paid votes cross the fuzzy line for me. Not a huge deal given how haphazard unpaid, crowd-powered modding/upvoting is, but still a bit of a deal in my oppinion.
[ link to this | view in thread ]