Order of Comments in Front Page Articles?

[w00t951]

When I see an article that is featured on the front page of MacRumors, I click on it for more information. When I want to leave a comment, it's always buried at the bottom of the comments list. I propose that the order of comments for any front page articles to be reversed - that way, people who comment first can contribute to the discussion and have their comments moved back for newer comments. What seems to happen is:

1) Article aired on front page.
2) People start to comment on it.
3) The people on the first and second pages of comments get all of the attention and votes.
4) After you finish the 2nd page, no one reads your comments, and 90% of the people who commented on the article don't get their voice out for people to see.

Other sites, such as Engadget, seem to show newer comments before older comments. I think this is better than the current system that MacRumors employs, and it may be a valuable addition to the website.

 

[0007776]

I like it the way it is. It always annoys me when sites have the newest comments first because then if there is a discussion going on it messes up the order. So I propose it stays the same.

 

[maflynn]

I think showing older posts at the top would be more confusing.

Who cares about the votes whether the first few gets the most. Also some of the threads the go on and on show that it people are quite involved in teh discussion

 

[Pink∆Floyd]

No, I don't like this.

Leave it as it is.

 

[Darth.Titan]

Sites that reverse the order of posts to put the most recent first are very annoying to me. I want to read the thread in the order the posts occurred, not have to go to the last page and read backwards.

You make a point that later posts are sometimes lost at the bottom of the pile, but if you do it your way the early posts get the same treatment. Add to that the a person posting wouldn't know that what they're about to post might have already been posted in the very first post. It would probably also contribute to multiple posts by members who have "First Post!" syndrome. I don't think your solution really solves anything, and in fact would create confusion.

If people are interested in the thread, they'll read it in its entirety. I've read 10-12 page posts in the past before posting.