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)

This is such an inconsiderate addition - are you actively trying to make your site less accessible, MNHQ? As someone with disabilities, chronic pain and limited movement in my arms/neck/shoulders, this is unusable. Please remove this feature as I, and many others with disabilities or movement issues, cannot use your site with this present.

Testing @BridgetYourFortyDaysAreUp testing, that's a very interesting theory and here I am testing your theory, which is yours, and it belongs to you, your theory which is yours, Miss Ann Elk with the theory also called Bridget.

Same. I have finger splints.

😁ok, gotta make this short. Not my theory, from other thread. I can see all your post. No "show more". Maybe tag must be at bottom of post? @AnAutumnCrow

Yes, it's on the wrong side of screen for your thumb to easily click it.

Feedback is no one wants it, asked for it or finds it remotely helpful. It fact it actually makes the user experience worse. 🤨

Please remove it ASAP.

I'd love to know who provided the feedback in the first place, that led to them adding this daft thing, and how it came about.

I dont remember a survey on here about it.
Did they invite specific users, or get emails out of the blue, or set up a focus group, or get a company etc

It's the thread fairy. Spreading thread fairy dust. Makes us all happy. Lovely fairy dust.
@Error404FucksNotFound

It's bloody annoying.

Another one who finds it really annoying. Please turn it off!

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay in responding here, and thanks for bearing with us. We do appreciate everyone's feedback.

We're working on adding a setting that will allow you to turn off truncated posts. This isn't an instant change, but it's something we're aiming to add as soon as possible. We'll update this thread as soon as we have any news.

We've also taken on board your feedback about only truncating quoted posts, and we're looking into the issue where shorter posts are being truncated, as this shouldn't be happening.

If you spot any short posts that have been truncated when they shouldn't be, could you please share a screenshot and a link to the thread so we can investigate?

Thanks again for your patience in the meantime.

Just turn it off then. Like you turned it on yesterday, but do the opposite.

And your post needs clicking on to view. I’m not doing that.

Your own post is behind a see more, it cuts off at 116 words, which is insane as its "saving" us from just 13 remaining words.

This is a text-based forum, not TikTok.

WE ARE ALL SAYING LOUD AND CLEAR THAT WE DO NOT LIKE IT.

I am a teacher. This is like when you tell SLT that an idea is really shit and they explain their idea back to you, change nothing and won't tell you why they did the Shit Thing in the first place.

It’s as annoying as it was the last time I posted about it on the other thread, over a week ago. If you insist on truncating posts, just truncate the quoted posts, not the new one. Please.

So turn it off altogether until the opt out function works @AmeliaPMumsnet. You did it the other day to change the settings on it. Do it now while you sort the next bit out. Why leave it live??

I don't know, we might revert to how we behaved before it was switched on - hurtling our phones into the bin in exhaustion after reading 4 solid lines of text.

It’s a risk I’m willing to take @AromanticSpices 🤣

Hi all,

Thanks again for all the feedback you've shared over the past couple of days. We completely understand that this change isn't everyone's cup of tea, and we appreciate everyone who's taken the time to tell us what they think.

We've been reading through all of your comments, and we've decided to switch truncated posts off again while we review everything properly.

As with any new feature, it's clear that people use the site in different ways, and what's helpful for some isn't for others. That's why we're looking into adding a setting that will let you turn truncated posts off if you prefer to see everything expanded by default, rather than taking a one size fits all approach.

Thanks again for bearing with us while we work through this. We'll update this thread as soon as we have more news.

Having it turned off by default would make more sense. If it's turned on by default then you have the issue that there will be vast amounts of users who have no idea that posts are even being truncated in the first place as they won't notice the button, especially as in a lot of cases it picks a paragraph break as the expansion point, making it seem like the post just ends there. So your users who write walls of text <ahem> long considered thoughtful posts will be alienated as their posts will only be half visible to 90% of readers.

It would make more sense to have to opt in to it, because then you know that you've turned it on, and that you can expand longer posts if you want to read them.

I mean, it depends whether you want whatever the corporate IT firm are insisting is going to increase traffic (I notice you have also gone back to eye watering blue when I swear it was toned down after people complained about it last time this happened) OR whether you want a site that retains the brilliance MN has always had - and the ease of discussion, ie, posts being displayed in full, in chronological order, without cluttered up bits from likes, prayers and baby dust is a huge part of that USP, BTW. Whether on a phone or a desktop, and yes I do still use a desktop, and I have been using a phone to access the site since 2008 as well. Long posts have never been a problem, the bookmark feature was helpful with that, as is being able to choose the amount of posts per page.

Features that encourage folk to read the OP, fart out their own opinion and leave are the kind of thing which threaten this, make the site like every other generic social media platform (which you cannot compete with) and put off people who like the parts that actually make MN stand out and different in the first place. Lean in to that rather than trying to be like every other site.

Thanks for this but where you say to posters ‘ ..if you prefer to see everything expanded by default…’ then I lose confidence that MNHQ is really listening.

The pages and pages of posts complaining about this aren’t by people asking for an ‘expanded’ view. They’re asking for the normal view of what the poster wrote to be left exactly visible the poster intended them to read. A lot of us are posters as well as readers, although I can see it’s more attractive just to have readers for advertising, MN does need to retain posters in order to survive.

MNHQ is trying to push through a truncated version. So let’s call it that. Let’s be really careful about language to maintain trust, and be clear and anccurate about what is actually being proposed . That’s much preferable than MNHQ trying to overnight shift the Overton window by renaming an unshortened post, as an ‘expanded’ post.

Still confused how I’ve never seen the ‘edit history’ button before but thank you all for correcting me!

I hate it, t's pointless, if I'm fed up with reading a long post, I just scroll on- my choice! I don't need MNHQ deciding for me if a post is too long for me to read. It completely breaks my flow when I'm reading
Please get rid of it!

100% agree with this

Thanks @AmeliaPMumsnet I'd be really happy to opt out!

Don't forget that one of the things that makes this site special and different is that people tend to write in full sentences. So posts are longer. And it's better for that!