I tried sticking with the standard grey button on the mock up…
… I thought blue would be too loud.
Grey and grey - so I added a small border.
So my only concerns with that approach is the first and last obviously require knowing what post they are associated with. If the user uses the topic reply button or the one on the timeline, which post gets associated? The very last post? The first? The top post visible in the view port?
I would imagine that by default when the first option “Reply to post in topic” is selected with no existing post reply button used…
The “Reply” button in the composer would be disabled / prompt to “select a post to reply to” with further instruction…
… alternatively giving the option to “reply to the end of the topic” where the type of reply is changed.
That sounds… complicated.
One request that has come up, is sometimes people want to “switch” their reply to a different post target or the topic itself. This is already possible, actually, by simply pressing the desired reply button on the page before you submit your reply but this would give people another semi-obvious way to clarify their reply before they publish it.
I’m suggesting that this doesn’t change and this continue to be the way to select the reply post.
Regardless “Reply to post in topic” could be removed as an option from the menu and continue to use the current methodology for this part.
This would also make more room for the other suggestions.
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I really like this design. Don’t forget the “replying to closed threads” use case…
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FYI – As an end user, I was trying to reply as a new topic this morning, couldn’t locate the feature, and ended up googling my way to this thread where I discovered the feature to reply in a linked topic was moved under the age of the post.
Replying in a new topic is an incredibly useful feature to keep off-topic posts from derailing the current topic. As an end user, wanting to reply but knowing my reply is off-topic, I was expecting something like this:
I guess it depends on your perspective: are you (1) creating a new post for which you need a link to the current one or (2) replying to the post without disturbing the current topic. My experience with Discourse has more commonly been the latter.
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It is in two places, use the link icon as well.
Very, very few people used this function even though it was shown (excessively, as it turns out) in the right gutter next to every single reply…
I love this drop-down proposal!
In our case, since the "reply as linked topic’ link was dropped, it has strongly been the latter, but not just. Frustratingly for me (the moderator), new posts have decreased tremendously too. People just don’t feel like starting new threads now.
Continuing the discussion from "Reply as new topic" button next to reply button:
The lack of use of a feature doesn’t necessarily indicate a lack of importance. Think post import on Medium or InMail in the early days of LinkedIn. That small amount of usage drove far-reaching behaviours overall. From this data-driven angle, is there data that shows how droping this link has affected broader behaviours? Like:
- change to average length / replies of topics
- change to number of new topics per user
- change to hunting and searching behaviour
- even overall time spent
I’ve seen these change significantly for the worse on my forum. Particularly the last point, where people can’t find the message they want anymore. I hear, “stuff just gets lost on the forum” now that the thread length is growing and topics are generally off-topic and meandering. People are getting lost and giving up - so just hitting reply to whatever thread was last.
It’s like a tipping point in messiness. Since the few people who used this feature kept things roughly organised, the others could too. But now, its like when the dishes pile up in the sink, and nobody wants to start cleaning up. They just add to the pile.
This flexiblity between self-organising and structure was one of the key features that lead to me to choose Discourse, but it’s currently lost .
At this stage, I’d love it any of the suggestions here were implemented. The marginal difference in wording or UI placement is small compared to the fact without any way to remind my users to keep things on-topic, my forum is turning into a few, long, mixed up threads.
You guys are good at shipping and evolving quickly. So, you can always ship the drop-down and fix the wording or placement later right? 
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I am a fan of @DeanMarkTaylor’s proposal for
Not sure when we’ll get to it. You should train your users to use the link button visible on every post, as in:
I want to link this topic… to a new topic I am about to create
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Currently, the t key does not act as “Reply as a new topic”.
Some of advanced users keep asking me how they should reply as a new topic? They liked the feature a lot.
Yes it does…
But you have to use j or k to select the post you want to reply as a new topic from first.
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You get the same box and “new topic” feature clicking on the timestamp. For some reason, I always prefer that way.
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Train users? Maybe they were already trained to stay on topic by seeing a constant reminder about reply as new topic? A sign that says, good off topic points, please start a new thread before we lose the plot.
(Edit, this is not meant as a rant, although reading it later it I haven’t quite got the register right! )
It appears the stats say that we don’t use the feature, but have you considered that some things just work without any overt references to them. As car drivers we don’t get out and polish Stop signs because they are so useful, or say to passengers, hey that Stop sign is so useful isn’t it. And we tend not to argue with the message behind a stop sign either. Overall it is a silent sign which we certainly respect and benefit from being there. Would removing permanent stop signs and fitting a button in a car be as useful - Press this button when approaching a road junction to pop up relevant traffic control signs.
I have not closely followed developments on meta for a while, so I am not totally up to speed, but doing some belated housekeeping on my own forum, I noticed a few threads have got a bit sloppy. I tried breaking up those that merited a new related post using reply as new topic. As a clue to how that went, it is not nearly as intuitive as before, and I had to ask my friend Google how to get started! Then it was straight forward to break them up.
But consider the minimalist effect on users. I think I’m right in saying that the permanent sign we used to have for Stop posting rambling off topic replies, start a new thread served also as a really good “breadcrumb / related posts effect”, helping readers to discover more content.
I just set up 4 posts all related, I want the group members to go through each one and reply accordingly. Now that the visible listing and natural link effect from one post to another is out of sight out of mind, (based on the assumption we don’t use it), those forum posts are now less discoverable?
I understand the forum works as well as it does because you guys sweat every single detail, but minimalist can go too far. I read a great article about the difference in usage between a super roof deck and an average patio off the lounge. Can I find the link anywhere, but it was another analogy about drop in usage when great features or clues are less accessible than average features.
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You’re saying that people can’t find reply as linked topic note that it’s on the link icon menu?
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That pretty much sums it up, yes. It’s hidden. It isn’t deemed important enough to have its own space and requires users to remember it exists.
In a long winded way I guess I am questioning if the stats actually tell the right story to justify that approach.
I think that the current default applies to most communities. Of course, there will be many boards in the wild that used this option a lot more than the norm.
Maybe you guys can try to craft a plugin that makes this more prominent?
Could you do it with just CSS?
With my classes, I just told them where reply-as-linked-topic was and at least most of them managed to find it. Of course, a “community” where people are required to participate in very specific ways is a fairly unique situation. (And it was a course in which people were supposed to be learning about technology!).
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