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Post Three Dots To Hold Your Place In The Annotations Queue

The placeholder thing is Notexactly's idea. I added the dots part.
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Hold your place in the annotation queue so you're responding directly to the post you want to respond to not any annotations that have posted while you were writing yours.

The dots are similar to what you see while text messaging to be notified that somebody is typing so it's already a widely understood symbol. They don't move but anybody would get the idea.

Again, this is Notexactly's idea, I just tweaked it a bit by adding three dots instead of typing "[placeholder - editing]" but I do think the two ideas are good together.

doctorremulac3, Jan 28 2019

This has a very similar effect to this idea Edit_20your_20last_...20look_20rediculous
[hippo, Jan 29 2019]

Ellipsis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis
What three dots in a row is called [Loris, Jan 29 2019]

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       ...
doctorremulac3, Jan 28 2019
  

       See? That would mean somebody's working on the first post.   

       Good eh?
doctorremulac3, Jan 28 2019
  

       I dunno, [doc]. I'm imagining lots of polka-dot posts, left behind by 'bakers who forgot to go back.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 28 2019
  

       Churchill is said to have coined the word Queuetopia in 1950.   

       ...   

       that Winston, he cracks me up   

       I do like this better than my "[placeholder - editing]" version, though without the animation, it could be interpreted as indicating the opinion that the discussion is getting tedious. But, if "…" gets popular enough, it might get added to the help file.   

       // I dunno, [doc]. I'm imagining lots of polka-dot posts, left behind by 'bakers who forgot to go back. //   

       The idea owner can delete them after a while if they seem abandoned.
notexactly, Jan 28 2019
  

       I've just realized a small issue with this: I don't think editing an annotation counts toward the recency of last update of the idea it's on. If I'm right about that, when you say "…", then the idea will be bumped to the top of people's recent views, and people will click on it and find nothing new to read. When you finish editing and click OK, it won't be bumped, and nobody will be notified that you edited in some content. So you have to rely on people remembering to refresh/come back after a while to read your annotation, or other people annotating after you've edited yours—not just after you've placeheld it—to bump the idea again.   

       Also, when I come back to an idea whose annotations I've read because it was bumped, I look for the most recent annotation I've read and continue reading from there, so I might miss content that was edited in above that point. But if I'd previously seen annotations that said "…", I'd probably remember to look for them being filled in on subsequent visits to the idea.
notexactly, Jan 29 2019
  

       Despite drawbacks, the main thing this helps with is later reading of the chain. Right now if you come back years later it's like a cocktail party, random conversations popping in and out of the progression of the posts so scrambled they decay into un-readability after the conversations have ended.   

       Wonder if it would add some clarity to leave the dots in and just put the annotation after it so people know this was place held at one point.   

       If you really wanted to go crazy you could put a GMT stamp on the end of the posts. (Don't put a GMT stamp on the end of your posts.)   

       Anyway, I guess the main point is to preemptively de- scramble the conversation so it will be easier to read later on and get rid of that cacophony of conversations feel.
doctorremulac3, Jan 29 2019
  

       Will this really help much if there is more than one ongoing conversation? After a person writes "..." but before they update it, there could be more posts (the whole reason for this idea), so if there is a response needed to this one, it will be separated unless the first person preemptively adds a "..." as soon as they see the first "..."   

       So this idea could improve the flow of annotations slightly by grouping a conversation in pairs of two, but I'm not sure that's worth the confusion it could cause.
scad mientist, Jan 29 2019
  

       Well, it's available now. Whether or not it ever gets used remains to be seen. I might try it if the occasion arises.
doctorremulac3, Jan 29 2019
  

       I still think it would be easier to have annotations numbered consecutively, permanently and automatically at the time of writing. The "..." thing only works in those rare cases where you know you will want to comment but don't have the necessary time or information; it doesn't help you if you come to a thread late, and want to comment on an annotation made a while back. Numbering would meet both needs:   

       "Re {5}, why not simply charge the hamster to a high negative potential?"
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 29 2019
  

       Re: ellipsis name change. Caterpillar? Because if moves like a caterpillar sort of?
doctorremulac3, Jan 29 2019
  

       What about using Three Seashells ... ?
8th of 7, Jan 29 2019
  

       I don't like this but not enough for [-]. This means you can't amplify .
wjt, Jan 31 2019
  

       What happens if you don't type anything and just post it?   

       Testing now.
doctorremulac3, Jan 31 2019
  

       Naa, nothing.
doctorremulac3, Jan 31 2019
  

       Could you not just drill a hole in the screen and push in one of those pins with a red dot on the end of it?
xenzag, Jan 31 2019
  


 

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