Initial Contents of Context Box

Maybe the initial discussion-started text should become both the first comment, and the contents of the Context Box, so that the starting point of the discussion is never buried in a history. Alternatively, there could be two boxes on the 'Start a Discussion' dialogue, one for a Starter Comment, and one for Context Box?

I think you're onto something @strypey; that thought echoes what I've heard in a few conversations about that tricksy context box.

I agree and will be working towards making sure that the context panel is not tricking people into entering their first comment into it.

Thanks @strypey for this discussion. It has made me think about the way I start discussions. I think your idea of two boxes in the ‘Start a Discussion’ dialogue, one for a Starter Comment, and one for Context Box would be good.

This also makes me think about the order the discussion appears in. Presently with it being in the reverse order (i.e. oldest comment last) it is hard work to read in order to see how a conversation/discussion is developing. Perhaps it should be the opposite way around.

I've been talking about this issue for many months now, but development has been focused on other areas of the app. However, now that we're about to move into fixing up the discussion page I think this issue will soon be sorted out.

The original idea of the Context Box is that people would update it as the discussion progressed, allowing people to read the summary, and join in, without having to scroll back through the whole discussion.

I have to say that hasn't really worked out in practice, and I think a more user-friendly option would probably be to have the comments order reversible. It would be even better if when I arrived at a discussion, the page auto-scrolled to the first new comment (I haven't read yet).

@strypey — I mostly agree, and yesterday @robertguthrie, @johnirving and I mocked up a discussion page with the comments in chronological order. Should be implemented soon!