Truncated posts with "show more" (NOT quoted sections)

[AromanticSpices]

I've just seen this on posts - having to click "show more" if the post is longer than a handful of lines.

Please please bin this off! I want to scroll and read posts without having to constantly click!

And let's not discourage longer nuanced posts by implying they breach some (very short) length limit...

It's awful.
(NB I'm not talking about quoted sections... literally just text posted in a post)

Can you please also take into account actual accessibility as well as scrollability? Having to negotiate extra clicks can be problematic for people with mobility issues. I too think this feature should be one that can be opted out of (or better yet, switched on if readers want it).

Far easier to scroll than to click a little link in every post and then scroll to the next post, click a little link in that one, scroll to the next post, click a little link..

We'll end up with txt spk which is already hard to understand with typos, autocorrect etc!
Or people making multiple posts to
Get
All
Their
Points
In

Also if we want to make threads more readable, can we have SEVERE penalties for people not reading the thread or at least OP's posts?

Easier to scan? Nobody is scanning. We're reading.

Go read one of the tribunal threads. We don't want a section of any of those posts, we want the whole thing with no need for an extra click on each one!

And, as pp have said, the needs of those with mobility issues, RSI etc ought to be paramount.

At the very least, give us some controls over this nonsense.

I scroll past the very long - usually ChatGPT - posts myself so don't need the Read more option, because I won't.

Exactly or any post that starts 'well this is a long one OP but let me tell you my story'

Scroll down immediately.

I don't mean to be rude, but that cannot be true surely - do these people know how to use a mobile phone?

It is trivially easy to "flick" and scroll quickly (as opposed to scrolling slowly by keeping your thumb on the screen).

It is a complete PITA to have to individually click to open each post when a thread has up to 1000 posts. Surely no-one can think that clicking a fiddly link (on the wrong side of the screen for right handed users) 1000 times is easier, than simply scrolling through a thread either quickly or slowly.

(If people don't want to read long posts perhaps they would be better off on the platform formerly known as Twitter?)

I'm seeing it for the first time today. It's not being applied consistently - looks like a bug in how it's actually working, to me.

I don't want this @MNHQ, can it be removed? Bit weird that you want people to read less on a thread and to interrupt our reading to make a comment display properly.
If we don't want to read a comment we can easily scroll past, it doesn't need to be cropped.

Why has it come back?

Apologies all! This was turned on briefly this morning for testing but was turned off again a few minutes later.

We're continuing to look into all your thoughts and feedback and are making adjustments.

What makes you think we even want it?
Of the many many suggestions both sensible and batcrap crazy that I've read on here, please cut posts off so you have to click a tiny see more button to read them is one I definitely missed!

Hi all,

Thank you again for all your feedback on the truncation feature released last week.

We've just released it again with a change based directly on the feedback we received last week. The original cut-off point was too short, so we’ve increased it. This means posts will need to be considerably longer before they’re collapsed.

Long quoted sections will continue to be collapsed, as we hope this will make lengthy posts in quotes easier to scan and read. They can still be expanded and collapsed using ‘See more’ and ‘See less’.

We hope this change is less intrusive while keeping the benefit for particularly long posts and quotes. Please let us know how you find it.

And will we have the option to disable it, please?

Nope, I still hate it and don't want it interrupting my reading.

Has anyone actually asked for this feature? And will we be given the option to turn it off? It's supremely annoying, one of the things I like about MN is being able to load a full thread then just scroll through it one handed. This infuriating feature prevents me doing that. I really really dislike it and struggle to understand what problem you're trying to solve with it!

OK, here's some further feedback.

I hate it.

If you're going to keep it, please give the opportunity for users to turn it off for themselves. I don't want to have to click a button before I can even decide whether a post or reply is worth reading or not. I want to be able to see the whole thing and decide whether I want to scroll on by or not.

I'm in the don't want it, it's just annoying camp as well but I assume connected why have all the blue options changed to huge font?

I have no objection to truncating the quoted post. That is fine. I'll have already read it.

I hate the truncation of an actual post. I read the thread, not skip through it. So I will always have to expand it. Please make it possible to disable it.

Had not seen this but I think it would be a good thing to include JUST for quotes.

Not for actual posts. I don't understand the complaint that scrolling "disrupts the flow" of a thread - what? Do people not understand how a forum works? IMO the point of a forum like MN is to have a conversation, which means reading the posts which have already been made. What I don't like is threads filled with dozens of disconnected responses directly to the OP. I like back and forth. If a thread is too long by the time you get to it to read it all, then just move on to a different one or at least read the last page.

Caveat - Am guilty of making wall-of-text replies which I appreciate people might not want to read all of. Though I mainly feel guilty when someone quotes my entire post in order to say "Thanks this helped me" 😬hence thinking it would be helpful to have a truncated version shown of quoted bits only (or letting people quote just a short portion of a post).

It's fine for quotes, not fine for the actual post.

I would love to get rid of it.

If you're crafting a post to, say, an abused woman, you don't want the implication to be that the last step of your advice is BORING TOO LOOONG !

As I pointed out above, twice, this change decreases the accessibility of this site - more clicks to access information is not remotely helpful for those with mobility issues.

@AmeliaPMumsnet if you insist on installing this - it seems unwanted to most - update, then please make it optional.

I've just had to click Show More on this thread. It's AWFUL. Please let us turn it off. It's the opposite of reading and engagement.

It’s still terrible. Just truncate quotes posts and leave actual posts well alone. I want to read actual posts as one thing not click. I want to scroll one handed. It’s actively making the experience of your site worse. Once again, at least make it optional so those of us who cannot stand it can turn it off. Please.

No, it’s honestly awful. First time I’ve seen it today and it’s not adding anything to the experience!

It's still rubbish.

Had anyone actually requested this?

Adding extra clicks to read content is just a poor user experience

I agree. Not as bad as it was, but still an unnecessary change, which I doubt anyone asked for or wants.