A new comments system
We finally have a new comments system for the website. This should encourage people to get involved in the debates even if they don’t want to write a whole new point or counterargument and are unwilling to edit what someone else has done. The new comments system gives several options as to what to do, a big improvement over the old system which was more or less a blank box that could be written in and posted. Comments did not have any context and seemed to be out of place on the old system, this is no longer the case! Now in the ‘Join the debate’ section another view of the debate in a much more linear format is given, this gives context to the comments as they are made relevant to particular points within the existing argument.The Join the debate section has several options. The first two are pretty obvious. ‘Applaud’ is simply giving thumbs up to an argument made by someone showing that you think its a good argument or agree with it. ‘Flag’ is marking an argument as inappropriate so that the moderators notice and consider the content. ‘Quote’ quotes the section of the debate you want to respond to, giving the text of the initial post, if you just want to reply simply delete the quoted passage. This then says at the bottom that it is a ‘reply to #x’. The final option is ‘my two ¢’ that allows you to take the discussion in a different direction by not quoting or replying to a previous point but still staying on topic.
Overall the new comments system is a massive improvement over what was there before. The new comments system may well be useful for revisewise as well. One of the things we are aiming for is pathways and allowing users to break out of the dual debate structure that is currently enforced by the site. This new comments system helps create a way through this. For revisewise debates the comments system could be considered a much more integral part of the debate allowing discussion on essay titles and how the debate should flow if not in a dualist structure. The comments system also helps to facilitate collaboration between users on the site, this is helpful for students revising as they can make comments on what needs to be revised more, how it should be done etc.
Hope you all like it as much as I do
