There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
The most recent comment as of right now (mine) on the https://www.massdrop.com/buy/mountainsmith-day-tls-lumbar-pack/talk page is 5 posts down from the top.
So logic for the Talk pages appears to be, top to bottom: - oldest post is first at the top, then newest post, then specific replies to that post, oldest first. For Discussion pages on drops it appears to be: - newest post, then specific replies to that post, oldest first, then next newest single post.
But the new system nests by default AND treats "newest top level post" as the sorting method instead of "newest top level post or reply in thread" which completely BURIES any conversations which use the nice new threading. Huge mistake :)
The only way to be sure you've seen the newest replies in a conversation with either type of page (Talk or Drops Discussion) is to scroll through the entire laggy single page perma-scroll. (Unless you're dedicated enough to write down what the previous post count was last time you read, subtract from the new post count, and then check off how many new posts you see as you scroll... that would let you only scroll as far down the infini-page as it took to reach the newest reply to the oldest top level. Sound fun to anybody else?)
@Fearlessleader reverse chronological might have been the bait that led to the comments system switch, but mobile is *currently* no better off with the new system than desktop is, for the reasons mentioned above... and certainly not better off than it used to be (guaranteed maximum in the past of two page loads, first page of comments then jump to last page of comments) vs. the "oops sorry you can't find the last comments now without viewing everything" that the current combination of issues and design choices has left us with :)
That said, I'm 100% behind giving MORE choice in the presentation. Clicky choices of flat/threaded, reverse/normal chronological, etc., and account-wide preferences for sort... sounds great. But the current system took away choices AND made an uncomfortable interaction of defaults, both. Lose-lose.
Legibility has basically not changed and readability is getting worse https://www.w3.org/wiki/Text_styling_with_CSS#Web_typography_review
How about a compromise and make this a user profile setting? If folks are clamoring for this kind of sorting, let them keep it. If others like a more linear view, let them keep it. I'd like to help this site get better and not just be perceived as negative about your decisions.