4 ms·

I hear this complaint often and still don't understand it. Twitter has had threaded conversations for a while now and they flow just as easily as HN comments.

recursive 9y ago
Counterpoint: I can easily understand the treading on HN. Whenever I see a threaded conversation on twitter, I cannot tell what is a response to what. I'm not sure if threaded is even the right word, but you used it first. For instance: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/498008486551506945 https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/49800848655150694... There are a ton of replies to things, but I can't tell where anything fits logically.
- Karunamon 9y ago
  Basically you're looking at a flattened tree. Anytime you see the lines, those are part of the same conversation sequentially. Once the lines stop, that's a new conversation. http://i.imgur.com/02mm3YW.png http://i.imgur.com/02mm3YW.png And an ASCII version: Tweet ----- 1.0 Reply to tweet | 1.1 Reply to 1.0 | 1.2 Reply to 1.1 ---- 2.0 Reply to tweet | 2.1 Reply to 2.0 | 2.2 Reply to 2.1 --- 3.0 Reply to tweet
  - recursive 9y ago
    So where does a reply to 1.1 go?
    - Karunamon 9y ago
      Right where 1.2 is. If you wanted to see the direct responses to that, you'd click on that tweet, and then be looking at a new subthread. It's all predicated on whose message the reply-er clicked the reply button on. First Tweet Reply 1 Reply 2 <-- click Reply 1 Reply 1.1 Reply 1.2 You only see the first two levels of the main tweet you're looking at. The first tweet, its replies, and the immediate children of those replies. Some indenting would make this a lot more intuitive.
      - recursive 9y ago
        That is basically my complaint then. I have 1920 horizontal pixels available, but for some reason twitter is intent on only using a small fraction of that.
Yizahi 9y ago
For an outsider Twitter looks like a UI hell. I can't figure it out in any 5 minute long attempt when I happen to open a twit. And I don't see a real incentive to spend more time digging through that messy UI, when there is a FB, RSS aggregators, HN, etc. Tons of distraction feeds in use already and forums too. Frankly it is a mystery for me how Twitter is still popular.

recursive 9y ago

Counterpoint: I can easily understand the treading on HN. Whenever I see a threaded conversation on twitter, I cannot tell what is a response to what. I'm not sure if threaded is even the right word, but you used it first. For instance: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/498008486551506945 https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/49800848655150694... There are a ton of replies to things, but I can't tell where anything fits logically.

Karunamon 9y ago
Basically you're looking at a flattened tree. Anytime you see the lines, those are part of the same conversation sequentially. Once the lines stop, that's a new conversation. http://i.imgur.com/02mm3YW.png http://i.imgur.com/02mm3YW.png And an ASCII version: Tweet ----- 1.0 Reply to tweet | 1.1 Reply to 1.0 | 1.2 Reply to 1.1 ---- 2.0 Reply to tweet | 2.1 Reply to 2.0 | 2.2 Reply to 2.1 --- 3.0 Reply to tweet
- recursive 9y ago
  So where does a reply to 1.1 go?
  - Karunamon 9y ago
    Right where 1.2 is. If you wanted to see the direct responses to that, you'd click on that tweet, and then be looking at a new subthread. It's all predicated on whose message the reply-er clicked the reply button on. First Tweet Reply 1 Reply 2 <-- click Reply 1 Reply 1.1 Reply 1.2 You only see the first two levels of the main tweet you're looking at. The first tweet, its replies, and the immediate children of those replies. Some indenting would make this a lot more intuitive.
    - recursive 9y ago
      That is basically my complaint then. I have 1920 horizontal pixels available, but for some reason twitter is intent on only using a small fraction of that.

Yizahi 9y ago

For an outsider Twitter looks like a UI hell. I can't figure it out in any 5 minute long attempt when I happen to open a twit. And I don't see a real incentive to spend more time digging through that messy UI, when there is a FB, RSS aggregators, HN, etc. Tons of distraction feeds in use already and forums too. Frankly it is a mystery for me how Twitter is still popular.