Ability to configure control environment so that topic replies appear in order of "Newest first" by default

Hello, I am fairly new to Community and InSided and I find this experience as a user very confusing. I recoded a video hoping that InSided can take in this feedback and provide a Control setting for Community Managers to setup the default as “newest first” for all members and allow them to change this settings if they wish. This would ensure that new posts on long threads are not ommited.

Hi there @AnnaF_RW !

Thanks for your thoughts. To me, this enhancement feels more like a solution in search of a problem, since you can actually jump directly to the newest comment in a thread by clicking on the label that says how long as passed since the most recent comment - it’s a jump link that goes there directly.

Forcing everyone to go Newest First by default would actually break the usual reading flow that most people are used to and it can alienate users who prefer Oldest First. However, I can think of a compromise which would be to leave the basic default as-is (Oldest First), but allow users to specify any of the other options and then have that be saved as the default for that user. It’s something that should really be down to personal preference, but my compromise would probably help satisfy everyone. :)

Thank you @Blastoise186 !

I definitely see how the reading flow may be disrupted by showing newest first. I had no idea that clicking in the label that says how long as passed since the most recent comment can take me there right away. Perhaps we need a label that is more explicit like “see most recent comment”? 

I wonder if Insided knows if new comments on page 2 and further receive less visits than those in the 1st page. 

No worries! Glad I could help.

This particular Idea is mainly focused on Control, so talking too much about Community in the same Idea post might get a little confusing. Would you be happy to spin up another Idea to handle Community and other front-end modules? Especially with your one about quick jumps to recent comments. :)

You got it! I will create a new idea. I think if members can easily identify how to jump to the newest comment in a thread, the need to create an internal control to change the default becomes unnecessary. (Unless there is a different use case)

I’m confused, doesn’t this already exist in Control? I set it once, and it’s always been in that order on subsequent views.

 

@Scott Baldwin , this is a control for you to set default settings for the UI to default to Newest/Oldest first as the Community Manager chooses to deliver to his end users, (not for their own browsing).

Just voted up for this idea.

cc @Julian 

Team… absence of ‘Newest first’ is causing friction for the Community user for enjoying a rolling conversation today, makes the experience less realtime and social. Any plans to prioritize this? @Pawel 

Content: As always I care about the end user

Hi @anirbandutta! We don’t have plans yet around this improvement, but it is very much aligned with our vision to empower community managers to configure their community in the way that would work best for their users. I will keep it top of mind, nevertheless! 

@anirbandutta yes, it’s under our radar as it looks like small change to improve quality of life significantly.

Thanks guys for sharing that. And especially the Ideas does not even have the Oldest/Newest toggle like other threads.

Adding my vote here.
I’ve followed guidance from my onboarding manager to set up an ‘Introduce Yourself’ topic. We launched yesterday and the list of comments is getting long. I assumed setting the default to newest first would be an option. However, it does mean that you have to scroll through the other intros which I guess is the goal for this type of conversation, but I can foresee this causing a block on a lot of other cases. Thanks

@sarahmasterton-brown bit confused as you can already do this. In Control, open a topic, and choose NEWEST FIRST from the menu. That setting, from what I can tell carries over from topic to topic (or at least it does in our instance).

Scott Baldwin wrote:

@sarahmasterton-brown bit confused as you can already do this. In Control, open a topic, and choose NEWEST FIRST from the menu. That setting, from what I can tell carries over from topic to topic (or at least it does in our instance).

 

Thanks @Scott Baldwin  I’m waiting to change the order of comments on a topic in the front-end. I can’t see what you see in control. This idea is to display newest first in the front-end by default - that’s what i’m looking to achieve. :)

Ah, you can’t do that on the front-end. Would suggest creating a new idea as this idea was about managing it in Control.

I mean the business usecase is captured in detail on this thread itself and @Pawel offers hope ?

Btw, just from a book-keeping pov, the end user UX idea is also submitted by @revote, here

• Sorting the comments, platform should remember user´s the selection New Idea
• 2 Votes

It’s a small change to improve quality of life indeed.  

Since the new Moderation overview offers the ability to set the filter for Replies = More than 0, and set the sorting based on Last activity, does this not provide the view that’s described in this idea? You can of course, save it as a personal view