When you come to CustomerThink.com, do you start with the home page and read all the new headlines? Do you go to a bookmark? Do you search? Do you go to your favorite author's home page? Or do you use Quick Links?
We're trying to figure out the best way to deal with ongoing discussions on the site. Without having an overt policy, we've quietly been nudging bloggers to keep discussions in one place. We've done this for a variety of reasons, but they're all meant to make it easier for community members—and other visitors—to keep up with discussions.
We don't want people to have to click four times to try to glean everything that's been said on a topic—or have to figure out which thread is the best one to add their comments to.
From personal experience, I know it's extremely frustrating to have composed an argument on a topic, participated in the give and take and then seen months down the line someone re-introduce the same topic.
But this is presenting a challenge to authors who are rightly concerned that if they post a comment to their old discussion, it won't have as much visibility as posting a new blog. If they post the comment, how will people ever find it? they argue. Further, they point out that they wouldn't have a problem with posting a comment to a recent discussion, but, c'mon, does it really matter if the original post is six months old?
All good points—which brings us back to the question: Which is more important to you as you click around the site, that discussion threads stay together or that new posts get their day in the sun?
In light of this debate, we're considering making some changes, and I'd like to know what you think:
- We could make a new link in the Quick Links [1] menu to new comments.
- The Hot Discussions box (on the right side of each page) currently shows articles and blogs posted within the past 30 days, with new comments. We can change the parameters to show all new comments, regardless of the creation date of the main blog or article.
- We can highlight active discussions in a completely new box (say, on the left side of the home page or below the top headlines).
- We can highlight "golden" discussions that have garnered a minimum number of comments (such as 10).
I don't want to load the discussion, but I really like the idea of bringing discussions that have garnered a lot of comments up to the top.
What would work for you—as a reader, commenter, author?