Disable the ladder structure of the forum

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odissey1
Level 9
Level 9
First comment on KBA 1000 replies posted 750 replies posted

Hi,

Is it possible to disable the ladder structure of the forum thread (see screenshot attached). It may be OK for a social forums, but inconvenient for technical forum, where space is used for graphics and technical info. This is particularly annoying when the thread begins branching, with discussion continued in several places simultaneously. I would prefer simple and plain top to bottom linear thread.

Q. Is it possible to disable the ladder structure and thread branching?

 

Figure 1. Example of the thread ladder structure. Long paragraphs and images are removed for clarity.

Forum ladder_01d.png

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5 Replies
Len_CONSULTRON
Level 9
Level 9
Beta tester 500 solutions authored 1000 replies posted

/odissey1,

I can see the 'value' off the hierarchical tree structure of the thread discussion.   It is important to know where a reply is attached. 

I agree the structure can become very clumsy when trying to parse the technical content.    As a compromise:  How about the ability of collapsing or expanding the 'tree' like we have in the code files of the IDE?

Len
"Engineering is an Art. The Art of Compromise."
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Len,

In one of my posts, there were 29 replies on replies. Can you imagine how will it look if this were a ladder format? Note that each reply is not a single sentence, but rather a paragraph with images and HTML code snippets. Now try to make a PDF copy of it. Not only it takes more pages to print out, but also images are downsized.

Another issue with the ladder format, that the latest reply does not appear at the end where one would be naturally looking for. So if somebody replies on the original question 5 yeas later, it will show up at the beginning of the thread, and no one will notice it.

I would like to have an OPTION to have the ladder structure disabled. My guess I am getting conservative.

/odissey1

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/odissey1,

I concur that the ladder structure can get messy and cumbersome.

Not knowing which was the last reply is a bit disconcerting.  That lends to replies being out-of-sync.

What would you propose as a solution to determine which reply is in response to a particular post in the thread?

Len
"Engineering is an Art. The Art of Compromise."
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Len,

I believe that forum formatting is done on-the-fly. I would use an OPTION to the settings to enable/disable the ladder structure formatting. If disabled, all posts go just by the time posted. It is simple and should satisfy both parties.

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SaraLeslie
Community Manager
Community Manager
Community Manager
250 sign-ins 100 sign-ins 50 likes received

Hello Community Members, 

We will evaluate potential enhancements to the thread structure in the coming quarter.  Currently we are using a standard format. Note that once a correct answer is selected that one goes to the top of the list just below the original post. 

I have added this to our list UI topics to evaluate. I know its not the solution you are looking for but in the meantime you can also look at your profile/settings/threaded layout. 

profile settings.PNG

Best, Sara 

Community Manager