Hi all,
We wanted to take a moment to share an upcoming change to how subject lines for comments will work on the site.
In the near future, the Subject Line will be made a required field when posting comments to content on AppleVis. In so doing, it is our hope that discussions will be easier to navigate and follow, especially for popular posts (like software release announcements) where there are many replies and many individual sub-discussions.
In addition, we ask that you please keep the following etiquette tips in mind relating to subject lines:
- When creating a new Forum Topic, please use a clear and descriptive subject line. This helps readers get a good idea of what the topic is about and, for many other than site moderators (who read everything), informs whether or not they will open the post to read more.
- Example: "Problem with Eloquence Volume in iOS 18.5"
- Example: "Safari Not Responding on M1 MacBook Air 8GB Ram"
- When replying to a topic, please use a meaningful subject line that summarizes your message. Doing so helps ensure that the discussion is easy to follow and navigate and, just like the point above, helps preview your message for the reader. This is especially important when replying to posts like software release announcements, where there can be many sub-discussions about the topic at hand.
- Example: "RE: Braille Screen Input Improvements in iOS 18"
- Example: "For @Michael Hansen: A Possible Solution That Might Work for You"
- Please refrain from using phrases like "Subject says it all" in your posts. In our experience, this is not helpful and the statement is very rarely completely accurate--and even when it is, it requires the reader to actively go back and read (or reread) the subject line to try and figure out what was meant.
If you have any questions or feedback, please do let us know in the comments. Thank you for helping ensure that AppleVis is a helpful and informative place for everyone.
Comments
I like this idea!
I always think about my subject, because that's how I navigate the site by heading, so I want it to be useful to the visitors.
What about subject line length?
Given the length of some of the example subject lines seem to be much longer than any subject I can recall seeing on the forum before, will the subject line character limit be increased to allow for more meaningful/specific ones?
What about exposing the character limit in a counter element so we can better plan our subjects?
For @Gar: Great Suggestions and an Answer
Hi Gar,
Thanks for inquiring and for the suggestion!
The current length of subject lines for comments is set to 64 characters, and we can definitely look at increasing the limit if the current length is not sufficient. Regarding adding a character counter element, I will add this to the list for when our developer implements the changes.
Best,
Michael
Replies to posts Re: Upcoming changes to subject lines
First, thanks for posting those suggestions about subject lines. Those are all good ideas for any forum. One should be able to tell from the subject line what the posting will be about before deciding whether or not to read it. It is probably good to remind people about these suggestions once in a while both to keep things on track and for new posters.
Second, I particularly like your suggested example subject when replying to a post, i.e.,:
"For @Michael Hansen: A Possible Solution That Might Work for You"
I can't tell you how many replies I read which, after reading, I have no idea what the reply was referring too. If a reply says something like:
"Great idea, I'll try that," or "I agree", it is not helpful or very meaningful.
Lastly, I thought that there used to be a "Reply" button associated with each post. Maybe I mis-rememberd this or that is only an option on other forums. Perhaps such a "Reply" button could be useful to make it easier to associate replies with the original post.
Anyway, kudos to the team for constatnly thinking of improvements!
--Pete
A few questions. My thoughts on the matter
I have a question about how notifications work on the forums. When another person is mentioned in a comment, does the system automatically tell you? My thinking is, if you're going to mention someone in a comment using the @ sign, is there currently an option in the website's settings to be notified when someone mentions you in a comment? This would be incredibly useful because it means someone wouldn't have to subscribe to the entire topic. If someone is referring to you, or mostly to you, in a comment, you would get a notification specifically for that mention, letting you know they're talking about you. I don't want to be negative, as platforms can always update and change, but if there's a long post with lots of topics and questions, there's bound to be some overlap. When I type a comment, sometimes I might be referring to two or three people. I don't generally send each person a separate message or a couple of separate lines in the comment. I type one comment, and then if they're following the thread, they'll know what I'm talking about if it makes reference to them. I understand the idea of trying to make content more organized though. kind of tough to do since we can't scheme the page as someone sighted can.
Another aspect that's a bit frustrating is when someone makes a post, I don't always know which forum it's in. Sometimes I think it's for iPhone or iPad, but when I go in, it's actually for the Mac.
In the settings, I was thinking that instead of subscribing to the entire thread, you could subscribe to get notifications only when somebody mentions you. I'm not sure how this would work perfectly because I know the pop-up notifications can be a bit clunky, and some users have very unique names. Trying to mention them with the @ sign doesn't always work because I might not know how to spell their username, and I'd have to go back and check. Unless it could be similar to Facebook or Instagram, where you type the @ sign and then their name pops up, and you select it from a list, adding it as a tag. This tag wouldn't show on the screen with a link to their profile; it would just display their username. You would see their name and know that "Okay, this comment was in reference to what this person said." I don't know if it would be possible to take you directly to the comment if you click on the link in the email, or if you would still have to search the entire thread for the comment in question. Regarding extending the subject line, I would increase it to 100 characters. Like I said, I don't want to be negative, but what if several comments have the information you need, but because of the subject line, you never checked the contents. There are general comments where I have a little bit of everything, and then I have specific comments that are more focused in nature. Maybe I'm overthinking this, but I don't know exactly what I'm going to put into a comment, until I actually write up the comment.
I try to summarize the main points in my subject line, but there are times when I put a lot of information in a comment, and I don't know what you might be looking for specifically. Maybe it's a nugget of information that was mentioned at a glance, like in passing, but not necessarily a part of the main subject line. When I'm in a rush, I might not be as thorough as I would like regarding summarizing the subject. Yes, I think it's good to be intentional with the subject, rather than leaving it to be the first lines of the comment. I don't know. Seems like this should be a website courtesy. If persons weren't doing this before, I don't think they're going to flip the script at this point. We have a post about it, so now it kind of feels like an ultimatum, like a formal rule, or something. To each their own, I guess. In all honesty though, I sincerely hope that this change works out for the best. It's a thoughtful and considerate gesture for all of us.
I think this could be very helpful. Thank you for suggesting thi
There’s just one thing that I want everybody to know as we go forward with this new changes. I have CP so it makes it really impossible for me to actually physically edit my post. I do have to use dictation so I’m hoping that when I say here is clear and makes sense. I can’t physically edit as I said. So I’m trying to speak as clearly and deliberately as possible to this phone. I’m using my iPhone SE 2022 with voiceover. I also will occasionally use voice control. So now that that’s out of the way, I just want to say that I think that making this website is organized as possible will be beneficial to everybody. I’m returning user from a few months ago. And hopefully now I will have a better experience this time around now that I’ve explained my lead for the use of dictation. :-) Thanks for looking at this.