Comments in Activity Stream don't link to Comments in blogs Problem

[CliveSoulHeal]

I’ve been using BP with WP on two installs through all versions for about 5 years the following problem is there on every combination.

In the BP activity stream we have comments from all posts and pages BUT the actual comment in the activity stream (or profile activity stream) itself is not linked to the actual comment on the original post and page.

I’ve some posts and pages with 100’s of comments so just having a link to the actual page is pretty much a waste of time as it can take ages to find your comment on the page.

Would it be possible in some future release to actually include a link to the actual comment in the activity stream?

It would also be useful to have an option in the profile area to list the comment ‘replies’ to your own comments (with links to the actual comment on the actual blog page in the profile activity stream too). This list would give you an immediate idea of what has been replied to of your own comments as opposed to no idea at all.

I ask for this because despite only having about 5 sites active in my MS / BP install it’s still pretty much impossible to keep track of your comments and others replies to them unless you login everyday.

[hnla]

Originally asked on support:
​https://buddypress.org/support/topic/comments-in-avtivity-stream-dont-link-to-comments-problem/

I suggest we continue in the BP support thread until an issue is definitely identified.

[CliveSoulHeal]

The above ticket needs to be modified.

There is a link to the actual comment BUT it's very obscure in its implementation. The link is incorporated into the 'comment was posted' timer text which is just above the displayed comment part.

I never noticed this because it's unintuitive and the timing text isn't presented as a link (the links above this link are in bold).

Having done a survey on my site only one person was aware that the activity items were linked in this way, one other person remembers he did find this then forgot about it AND then started copying the starting text and using ctrl-F to find the comment on the post itself.

These links to the item are utterly and completely unintuitive to a point where even if you do find this you actually forget about it.

So, PLEASE . . . can an obvious ' . . READ More . . . OR Read on post (or something else)' link be added to the end of the comment TEXT part itself (and to other Activity items that have the same invisible, unintuitive and 'hidden' link) rather then having it obscured as part of the 'comment was posted xxxx time' text above the comment.

[DJPaul]

I think that's a reasonable suggestion. Let's investigate where we could change this.

[CliveSoulHeal]

Hi DJPaul . . .

This is the current activity comment 'format':

USER commented on the post, PPP, on the site SSS 10 hours, 36 minutes ago

So, with PPP you get a link to the POST, and with SSS, you get a link to the SITE, 'cognitively' each link as you read more of the paragraph moves you 'further away' from the 'items' origin.

'Conceptually' or intuitively, people click on PPP as being the closest 'item' to the actually activity content being presented. This is what I'm doing and my site users are doing.

So, perhaps something like this . . .

USER wrote a comment HERE on the post, PPP, on the site SSS 10 hours, 36 minutes ago

So, 'HERE' would link to the actual comment directly. This 'logically' fit's with the progression of 'format' currently used . .

I 'always' want a link to the comment, so if you want to use a '. . . read more now . . . ' link at the end of the comment extract this should actually be . . 'read the comment now . . . '. In other words a read more implies that there is a link to 'more' comment content . . .

For a comment that just says "This is interesting . . ." does this get a 'read more' link when the entire comment is already displayed in the activity.

Unfortunately, as I don't use my BP for anything other than sites, posts, comments, updates and messages (no images or groups or forums) then I personally don't know if the 'format' for the rest is different?

I suspect you can use the same 'extension' for the rest as in:

USER posted an image HERE on the post, PPP, on the site SSS 10 hours, 36 minutes ago

[boonebgorges]

How about "[User] posted [a comment] on the post [post name]...", where "a comment" is a link?

[CliveSoulHeal]

It would be better as [this comment] rather then [a comment] (to make it more explicit as a direct link) and it should to be the same styling as the 'post' and 'site' links - i.e. dark rather than the light grey of the 'time posted' part at the end.

Below is a 'vague' suggestion . . .

---

I don't write software now BUT I did 30+ years ago, an academic research 'statistical analysis' package. It was second to none because I actually spent hours sitting behind and watching people actually using it.

What we 'think' is intuitive or even obvious from writing or even using the software ourselves is often not the case. In fact I was quite astounded at what people 'missed' and or how they 'thought' my software did or should work. I'd suggest that Microsoft 'obviously' didn't watch anyone using Win 8 on a normal monitor for normal 'general' use before releasing it for example?

If you think about it everyone is sitting in front of a computer using BP (or WP etc) isolated and remotely from everyone else. 'REMOTELY' and absent are how things are done with software / computers and yet it's all for 'real' people. The only way you can find out how to 'really' improve something is to sit behind them (out of sight) as they use it. You wait till they finish and then ask them 'why' they do things in particular ways . . . or why they are 'not' doing something that seems obvious to us / the writers.

Writing software 'to do what it does' is just a small part of what makes up it's final 'real' live user functionality. What your software does can be brilliant to the writers BUT it might not actually 'functionally' work (or work very well) with real people.

The only way you can find this out is to watch how people actually use it, preferably in real time. I can guarantee that if you do this (those that are writing the BP software) BP will change enormously (even more than I can imagine) and it will became way, WAY more functional and it'll completely out strip anything similar . . .

[hnla]

A lesson in HCI? ;)

BP is a collaborative project, one that relies on the feedback from the user base to highlight issues such as this and as you have done and the more feedback we get the better BP will become.

When /if we move the link, and we should, we should also be updating the link to make use of the 'title' attr adding text along the lines of Read {usernames} commnent #1234 to {post title} this will greatly help users and also benefit assistive technology.

[DJPaul]

We're closing this ticket because it has not received any contribution or comments for at least two years. We have decided that it is better to close tickets that are good ideas, which have not gotten (or are unlikely to get) contributions, rather than keep things open indefinitely. This will help us share a more realistic roadmap for BuddyPress with you.

Everyone very much appreciates the time and effort that you spent sharing your idea with us. On behalf of the entire BuddyPress team, thank you.

If you feel strongly that this enhancement should still be added to BuddyPress, and you are able to contribute effort towards it, we encourage you to re-open the ticket, or start a discussion about it in our Slack channel. Please consider that time has proven that good ideas without contributions do not get built.

For more information, see ​https://bpdevel.wordpress.com/2018/01/21/our-awaiting-contributions-milestone-contains/
or find us on Slack, in the #buddypress channel: ​https://make.wordpress.org/chat/