On Fri, Jun 26, 2009 at 6:18 PM, Luke Bensteadkazade@gmail.com wrote:
I personally think a Slashdot style system (like mentioned earlier) is perfect for this. If users rated posts up and down, and there is a customizable threshold above which the comments are visible. Then the most relevant and useful posts would always be the ones people could see, outdated/irrelevant posts would drop below the threshold and only the subject would be visible. You could even use simple AJAX to grab the comments that were below the threshold when they are requested, which would save on bandwidth/page load for pages with a large number of comments.
Luke.
I don't think there would be enough interest in rating posts to make that work. I think it's better to find a way to extract useful information into the article from the people who are now making comments. The best way to do that, is to have people add their useful information to the article directly, instead of into a comment.
If the idea for a wiki-style AppDB page would be implemented, comments would get a new meaning. Any useful app-related information would get added to the article, while the comments would essentially be a Talk page: a place to discuss editorial matters. (And the Test Results section would remain a place to add test results. That doesn't need to change.)
What exactly is the added value of the comments section at this moment? Shouldn't everything that is useful get added as notes/howtos? If a user needs more help in getting the app working, he should be referred to the forums. Just a big link "<App> Troubleshooting" to the wine-users forum. Having two places to ask for help is confusing and spreads attention.
Remco