Forum Comments vs Replies

All,

I wanted to step in to answer a few questions. A reply is when someone authors a message to one of the commenters on a thread. For instance, if I wanted to say reply to only @MNtundraRET, I could do that in a reply message. This is why reply messages show up directly under the person you are repling tos comment (see @EG's reply message to @BruceW's comment in this thread). A comment is when someone authors a message to the original poster (the person who started the thread) or authors a general comment on the thread. Fundamentally the difference between replies and comments is whether you want to address an individual commenter or if you would like to address the original poster/author a general comment on a thread.

As for notifications. You will always receive a notification when someone replies to one of your comments, @ tags your username in a reply or comment, or if someone authors a comment and you are the original poster, unless you have disabled all or some of your notifications on your profile page. You will also receive a notification if you choose to "follow" a thread. This is how the forum has functioned since the platform migration that happened in 2021. At this time, nothing is "broken" with the forum, it is working exactly as it is designed. I hope that addresses everyone's questions. Please let us know if you have any other questions related to replies and comments in the Xfinity Forum. 

If you would like assistance from a Community Admin about how the forum functions, feel free to @ tag my handle, and I will address it as soon as I am able. 

For  :  BruceW  ;    Comments / Replies   🗣

That's quite useful to know , thanks BruceW  !    So  , what purpose does the reply serve ? 
I'm guessing that it may be for those who haven't joined the Community  ? 🤷‍♀️

... what purpose does the reply serve ? ...

I don't know Chrissy. I've been wondering that since they switched to this version of the Forum software, but have never heard even a guess. Apparently somebody thinks it makes sense. To me, it just makes thing unnecessarily confusing.

1. For me at least, Replies do not generate any notification that a Reply has been made. Not by email, and not by the Forum "bell" icon.
2. Replies break chronological order. A "new" post might be near the top of a thread topic, near the bottom, or anywhere in the middle. Worse, it could be hiding under a long string of "View other replies" inline links.

If there's an advantage to this arrangement, I'd love to hear what it is!

From what I have seen using "Comment", as I am doing here, will attach the reply directly another person's original post ot a reply. Doing this does allow for the "comment" to be accepted as the best response but moves it to the bottom of the list.

In the past this reply should have been attached to you first post, but not allow being chosen as best response.

I am replying at bottom of original post here. 

The only time I am notified of replies is when someone else enters a reply at the bottom of all replies. 

@BruceW :

Did you get a notification on the bell for any of my test replies? We have quite a few Experts on Teams complaining about recent Sprinklr changes.

... Did you get a notification on the bell for any of my test replies? We have quite a few Experts on Teams complaining about recent Sprinklr changes.

You posted 5 responses, all of them as Comments, so I got 5 notification emails and 5 entries under the "bell" icon. This is not a recent change, Comments and Replies have worked (or failed to work) just like this since Sprinklr Forum Day One.

Note that the response oval below the first post in a thread is a Comment, and as such it will appear in chronological order with all the other Comments in the thread. Unfortunately, if someone Replies to a Comment, the Reply is placed immediately after the Comment, breaking the thread's chronological order. Later Replies to that same comment will appear in chronological order following the Comment they were in Reply to, but usually disrupt the thread's chronological order.

Worse, if a Comment has more than 5 Replies, the remainder are hidden and not viewable or searchable until you click a "View other replies" inline link.

Chronological order is broken again when a post (or posts) is (are) selected as Solution posts. Those are moved to the top of the thread just below the OP, because apparently Comcast/Sprinklr believes we're to dumb to click on (yet another) jump link.

I did get your message on the bell. Hopefully Sprinklr will fix the problems here. But I don't think they know how.

@MNtundraRET 

I don't think they know how, either.

Using Reply, though, you can quote the post you are replying to.  However, if you try to quote anyone else in a thread all you get is the quote from the original post, which oftentimes isn't useful.

I'm pretty sure that Sprinklr doesn't know the difference between linear and threaded posts.

@XfinityJessie wrote: "... You will always receive a notification when someone replies to one of your comments, @ tags your username in a reply or comment ..."

I wish it were so Jessie. It would be great if I received notifications for Replies, but I don't. I get them for Comments but as stated above, for me Replies do not generate and have never generated any notification, not by email, and not by the Forum "bell" icon, whether my ID is "tagged" or not.

Why might this be?

The lack of notification for Replies is why I continue to post:

Please be aware that there are 2 kinds of responses in this Forum: Replies and Comments. When you Comment on a post by scrolling down to "Comment on this post here...", I am notified of your response. But if you select Reply, I am NOT notified and may not be aware of your response.

@XfinityJessiewrote: BruceW, Do you receive them when someone replies directly to your comments (like I am doing so now)?

No. I received no email notice, and no "bell" in-app notice. Nothing. I only became aware of your Reply when I pulled up the thread to see if there had been any Reply updates. I just double checked my email and the "bell". In both, the only entry for @XfinityJessie in this thread was for the Comment you posted at 9:54am.

As mentioned, it should trigger a notification only if someone is replying directly to one of your comments on a thread. You would not receive a notification if it is not your comment the person is replying to. As the original poster of this thread, you should be receiving notification anytime you are @ tagged (regardless if it is a comment or reply), if someone comments, or if someone replies to one of your comments. If I were to reply to another user's comment, you would not be notified.

Understood.

Please let me know which one of the notifications is failing.

Notifications are failing for all Replies. I get them reliably via email and the in-app "bell" for Comments, but as previously stated, I have never, ever received a email or in-app notification for any Reply whatsoever. Never. Not once.

Thank you for taking a bit of time with this!

Please be aware that there are 2 kinds of responses in this Forum: Replies and Comments. When you Comment on a post by scrolling down to "Comment on this post here...", I am notified of your response. But if you select Reply, I am NOT notified and may not be aware of your response.

@XfinityJessie wrote: "... Happy to get this reported. ..."

Much appreciated! If there's anything I can do to help this along, please let me know. (If you are wondering, I didn't get any notifications for that Reply either).

Odd, thanks for the info!

One month after the conversation above, and 7 months after initial posting, I still do not receive any notice for Replies.

Please be aware that there are 2 kinds of responses in this Forum: Replies and Comments. When you Comment on a post by scrolling down to "Comment on this post here...", I am notified of your response. But if you select Reply, I am NOT notified and may not be aware of your response.