Sneetches that live on the beaches.

@trk182: When do the no-star sneetches get to be better than the star-bellied sneetches? I'm still waiting for that. Le sigh...

How long till this comment disappears?

@trk182:
What else is in the teaches of Sneetches?
Like life on the beaches....

I do not like it, Ben I don't.
That comments should compress on post.
Posts should stand on their merit,
unless there's no merit there it.

Dang, I wanted to earn a STAR!

@midwestkel: Just hop in the machine! Let's GOOO!

I have to say this is a great thread for a few reasons:

#1 I first made the Sneetches reference on Lifehacker earlier this week!

#2 I have long complained that giving commenters special recognition based on senseless metrics like "connectedness" instead of actually great contributions doesn't encourage great contributions at all.

So thanks, Gawker!

I still dislike the auto-collapse feature and believe this should be a user setting.

Auto collapsing comments makes me angry. I do not like this feature and I wish it would go away. I do, however, like the rest of the new commenting system. Oh, a note for those who don't like the auto-collapse. Clicking on classic view expands all the comments, but also returns them to the non-threaded format.

@B: Also, Expand all expands all the collapsed comments, something that wasn't working before, so I am glad that's fixed.

I still don't understand why anyone would want to collapse comments. You either want to read them or you don't. I am tired of having to uncollapse the comments, especially when clicking on the 2nd, 3rd etc. pages.

I wasn't aware of the star thing but it makes no sense, either. There is no one who has 100% outstanding posts. Starring a post makes more sense than starring a poster. And having stars appointed but keeping the hereditary ones smacks of aristocratic privilege-granting.

@Belabras: what? huh? comment the pain away

@B: I would complain here, since Ben probably doesn't code the site:
[getsatisfaction.com]

@Troy F.: You would hope people who have lots of followers, are the same people who have the best comments. I can only think of a few exceptions.

@BeeBoo: Translation "make it like Digg.com"

Yes, I've noticed that some comments had been collapsed to 1 line. And that made me mad. I don't want to have to click on expand all every single page. No one just reads 1 line of a comment and doesn't want to read the rest (unless truly boring, of course). Arghh!

I wish there was an option to ALWAYS have classic view on. Or Expand All on. Add that please?

@Bladefist: I kinda sounded like a jerk in that comment, wasn't trying too.

@elisa: There is. I've noticed that if I switch to classic veiw, it remains in classic view until I switch it back to threaded.

@Troy F.:
Agree with #2.

IGN had an annoying issue with their comment rankings. For them, it's the "watched user list". Ended up a "WUL" turned into currency.

For example, a post would be, "Can someone tell me where to get the submachinegun? Will WUL."

Completely devalued the entire system.

On that note, IGN recently uglified and overstuffed their pages. I no longer visit.

I'm not a fan of the collapsed posts, but I can switch it to classic or threaded and it'll be cool.

But I really don't like the fact that replies aren't indented or color coded in some way to let me know when the replies stop and other comments resume. It's still kind of hard to tell.

@Troy F.: Whatever happened to the Connectedness index? I saw it around, but it never changed.

@Caffiend:
I do not like your comment sir
But I am just a worthless cur
My woeful posts, they are to blame...
You see no 'star' there by my name.

I'm Cindy Lou Who and I approved this comment.

@B: I'm glad it's fixed, too, but if I didn't have my MX Revolution with Hyperscroll I'd never make it through the comments.

my $0.02:
* make the comments span the width of the window instead of the fixed width comments we've got
* give option to have commenter name to the left or right of the post, next to the post
* Give option to turn threads on or off

Don't I have anything better to do than complain on Consumerist?

Sorry.

Stars upon thars? Its taken a bit to get used to the new format, but I like it.

@Xerloq: We already have the option to turn threads on or off, the "classic view" link at the top of the comments switches them off.

Finally I understand what is going on now. I don't care for the collapsing posts either. It takes away from the point of posting. I like to read everyones no matter how relevant or irrelevant it is.

Is there a way to edit user settings so they can choose "Classic View" or "Expand All" on every thread? I find every thread I go in I click "Classic View" because it's easier than expanding things.

How come the star system is going away? Sometimes, running to Consumerist to post something snarky or inane, then seeing the little gold star next to my name is the only thing that gets me out of bed. It's like a little endorphin rush every time I see it, a glimmering beacon of tacit approval from the faceless internets. People like me! They really like me!

What is everyone else supposed to do? HHMMMMM????? What lengths must people go to to earn their stars now?

YOU CAN HAVE MY STAR WHEN YOU PRY IT FROM MY COLD, DEAD, FINGERS!! (please don't take my star away)

I never even noticed the star thingie until this post! Duh. :-)

I have no star by my name,
Having fame I cannot claim.
Are my comments all the same?
Are my comments all so lame?

Collapse my comments, go ahead,
Nobody cares what I said.

@Ecks: I believe they're working on something that will allow you to make global setting changes like you describe.

@Caffiend:
Auto-collapsing seemed topsy-turvy
At first confusing, but now pretty groovy
But for those who've not ascended to heaven
Must look not to bots, but their editorial brethren
Yet those not starred hastily, might ask forthwith,
Exactly who, when and where must I sleep with?!

@Bladefist: Getsatisfaction is a great place to give feedback about tech issues. The absolute head of tech at Gawker monitors it closely and is active about reacting to people's questions and comments. I know this because I get her forwards!

@jjeefff:

Will it?

@Caffiend:
the layoffs came first, which left only two
comments cut next, which worries this who
& stars now bestowed with a whoosh from the wand
of a wheechit or woochit or whabifootan?

what has become of this magical place
where consumers all gather to price, poll & pace?
have the schloppity-schlopps or the schluppity schlups
seized this blog market to peddle their mucks?

this must be the work of the slippery shills
"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! THIS NO LONGER WILL
TURN BLACK INTO RED OR REDUCE OUR STOCK OPTION!
MORE SILENCE WILL COME WITH EACH ITERATION!"

and they came and they frumped with their froompity fromps
type-typing away on their overclocked comps
"SHRINK THIS ONE! BAN THAT ONE! REMOVE THAT GUY'S STAR!
TIL NO ONE IS LEFT!" and they bellowed a big "HARTY-HAR-HAR!"

So, Ben, can I have a star now? Pretty-please? I think I comment very goodly. Although I'm not even gonna try to rhyme.

Also, I love all sneetches, star-bellied or not.

I find it strange that there are rules on how you can express your opinion, whether relevant or irrelevant. I am not liking the direction this is going...

This star thing will surely lead to some sort of corruption and abuse of power.

Hmmmm.... I wonder if I could get an editor or admin in my pocket.

@mikestan86: Hooray for elitism! Popular people must be better!

I can understand reserving stars for editors and admins, but it would be nice if there was another system to identify people who leave above-average comments. Maybe something like the moderation system that Slashdot uses, for example.

This really works for me - nested comments were great until people began to ignore the "reply" function and posted the same inane observation as a different thread. Hopefully this will kill the redundancy. (Here, due to moderate comment volumes, it wasn't an issue, but other Gawker sites... ye gods.)

@ludwigk: Don't worry, our stars are not going anywhere.

I wondered why stars were given for connectness and then I would look at some of the star commenters and see very few friends and followers. At first I read it as given by an admin, etc and I thought that was how it was always done but now I understand. (I feel like I am rambling and I apologize. Please don't steal my star.)

@Corporate-Shill: not if we keep replying.

@courtneywoah: This isn't an update to the Comment Code, they're collapsing threads that haven't had recent activity. It's not punishment for having said the wrong thing.

Watch... one day, they're going to show up and take away the stars from the people who have them; and give stars to everybody else! ;)

Wow, people still comment on Consumerist posts?

I think us readers should be able to take stars away from the editors when posts contain typos...

@IHaveAFreezeRay:
Yes, that is a little difficult to tell. But I'm glad the Expand is fixed.

Ironically, the Consumerist is making a change that doesn't benefit their consumers (the readers).