A Commenting Change Is Gonna Come

To keep the comments as fresh and outstanding as they've been up to this point, Commenting Guru Rob Iracane will write a bi-weekly Comment Ombudsman column. It runs every other week. This is that week. Mr. Iracane, co-proprietor of the brilliant Walkoff Walk , is also the guy who approves comments around here, and the fellow to whom you should address any comment account requests, and he will explore issues involved in commenting, what makes a great comment thread, what's working, what isn't, answer your questions, so on. We want the place to continue to be as much fun as it is every day, and it's not an execution thread like our friends at Gawker do. We like to be inclusive here, because if we're not, we'd be forced to rely on our own wit and knowledge, and that's a scary thought indeed. So here's this week's column that explores the new commenting system here at Deadspin. Seems as though the Gawker Tech folks change things up around here more frequently than I change my NFL allegiances. True, I was once a 49ers fan, moved over to the Giants after Tiki Barber was drafted, and then switched to the Eagles last year to make certain relationships in my life easier. No problem, I'm a devoted baseball fan anyway and this football thing is just a lark. Don't judge me. But for the HTML wizards at Gawker to go ahead and keep fiddling with our precious commenting system has proven to be a real turd in our comedy punchbowl.After the most recent update, comments are now displayed in two forms: threaded view and classic view. Classic view is for those of you who prefer the post-October 2006 version that split each commenting page into 100 comment buckets. To the best of my knowledge, once you click "classic view" down there between the blog entry and the comments, Deadspin will stay "classic view" for the remainder of your browsing session. Threaded view is the new way to read comment replies and it actually makes comedy pyramids easier to follow. Replies will now be nested underneath the original comment but are hidden; they can be revealed by clicking on the plus sign to the right of the replies. Or if you're the adventurous type, click "expand all" at the top of the comment section and prepare yourself for a waterfall of hilarity. In threaded view, only 20 comments are shown per page but that number doesn't include replies; any comment can contain an unlimited number of replies. Other new features include the ability to sort comments by oldest first or newest first. If you're one of those people who prefer to read things backwards, or if you are just Dexter Manley, your time has come. You can also sort comments by most popular. That's a great way to find the most replied-to comments which, hopefully, are the best series of jokes but most likely conversations between Yostal and Jerkwheat on DU!AN. Any problems with these changes? send me an email and I will choose to either address your issues or berate you. Take your chances, folks. These folks took their chances and succeeded on the comedic level, as they made the Comments of the Fortnight: Re: O.J. Simpson's shocking acquittal Paul Zuvella: Well, all those "2-0" t-shirts he had printed up can now go to the kids in Africa and Guatemala. Re: Evander Holyfield getting back into the boxing ring Gourmet Spud: The only competition Evander is fit for these days is a debating competition with Emmitt Smith. Re: Rays fans getting bikini waxes for the team Weed Against Speed: Speaking of which, how stupid do all of those Milwaukee Brewers fans feel now that got Prince Alberts in honor of Prince Fielder? With the good comes the bad. Time for our bi-weekly executions. Put your sayonara hats on, folks. Say Goodbye To: LogicalNegativist Why: Disrespecting the concept of blockquotes. It's okay to miss Will but it's not okay to attack the entire concept of sportsblogging. Say Goodbye To: Bill Pearly Gates Why: Peculiar racism. Say Goodbye To: Edsall is God Why: A continuous history of trolling our website.