LO writer forum thread sort confusing, can't find most recent reply?

[Klibreoffice]

Hello,
I’ve noticed with time the LO Writer forum sorts forum thread posts in a non-intuitive manner, of which I’m yet to decipher.
Could someone help with the cryptic design, here’s some screenshots on my UX.

For this example, I received a reply from EarnestAI. I tap the forum’s drop down menu and the forum thread opens to replies where I can’t find this latest reply?
Perhaps I’m used to forums that are sorted chronologically and each post has an easy to find identifier, either a time stamp or number.

I expect with my perfect forum thread post identifier, to be a timestamp in format YYYYMMDDhhmm at the top left in normal to large font. The most recent post perhaps at the front top.

Sorry, my smooth ape brain confused?

[robleyd]

Have you perchance looked at This is the guide - How to use the Ask site??

Just for fun I asked an AI (Artificial Idiot) about forums and Q&A sites; it responded thus:

Overview of Forums and Q&A Sites

Forums and Q&A sites serve different purposes in online communication and community engagement. Understanding their distinct features can help you choose the right platform for your needs.

Key Differences

Structure and Interaction

Feature	Forum	Q&A Site
Purpose	General discussions and community building	Specific questions and answers
Interaction Style	Conversational, encourages debate	Focused on direct answers, less discussion
Content Organization	Chronological threads	Answers ranked by quality or votes
User Roles	Open participation, users can create topics	Typically, users ask questions; experts answer

Use Cases

Use Case	Forum	Q&A Site
Community Building	Great for fostering a community	Less effective for community interaction
Expertise Sharing	Users share knowledge and experiences	Users seek specific answers from experts
Content Discovery	Answers may be buried in long threads	Easier to find high-quality answers

Conclusion

Choosing between a forum and a Q&A site depends on your goals. If you want to build a community and encourage discussions, a forum is ideal. For direct answers to specific questions, a Q&A site is more suitable.

[Klibreoffice]

Thank you, I read through This is the guide - How to use the Ask site?

Forums are great for community and answered questions.
My question however is the readability/UX.
Operational forum functions are universal, however intuitive/UX is a fine art balance between functionality and usability.
Some groups may try to be too smart, whilst others embrace the positive learning experience, with various levels in between.
Personally, having to dig for something is unnecessary friction and a distraction, when already straining the brain on a question.

Answer or comment?

Digression (as per This is the guide - How to use the Ask site? - #3 by Hrbrgr), however I lodged a feature request for potentially improving the positioning with most common button ‘Comment’ more prominent, perhaps to the left as English reads left to right, as more often used, with the ‘Solution’ button more obscure, perhaps to the right corner.

[robleyd]

Topic moved to the Site Feedback category as this is the appropriate place for feedback on the site.

@Klibreoffice

I lodged a feature request for potentially improving

Perhaps you could add a link?

[ajlittoz]

First, AskLO is not a forum. It is a Question & Answers site. @robleyd’s comment gives a very good synthesis of the differences.

The main idea behind a Q&A architecture is to encourage production of various “solutions” to a question. These solution can be upvoted by visitors and the site engine will reorder them by “relevance”.

Since the question itself or solutions may need to be clarified, additional information can be requested through a comment under the relevant post, i.e. not anywhere. You must wisely choose the post to which you reply.

Solution and comments structure the layout of a question web page. Consider question and solutions as being “moveable” chapters of a topic. Comments become explanatory information in each of these chapters. Solutions should be independent from each other. Comments are related the the “chapter heading” under which they appear. Comments keep their chronological order.

Contrary to threads, all posts in a Q&A site remain editable to contribute to conciseness because a topic is supposed to have a longer timespan than a conversation. A question and its answers can be of interest to many users facing the same issue. Then it is nice to jump instantly to a (the?) solution.

However, in response to spamming attacks against the site, some protective measures have been enforced. It is now required to access some trust level to be able to freely edit own posts. New users are allowed to do so only during a very limited time after submission (~1 hour).

You’re partly responsible for the mess in the topic you reference: you create too many “comments”. You don’t summarise enough and frequently important technical information is missing.

Above all, use of a Q&A site requires a change of mind compared to forum. There is no thread (as you noticed). Therefore, all must be asked in the question (ideal case) with all the details to avoid the need for contributors to scroll down. You must be aware that the decision to participate in the solution or not is challenged in the few first lines of the topic.

[Klibreoffice]

Reply icon too easy to miss

Hello, the forum’s UX might like to move the reply icon to a more conspicuous location? For new users and learners of LibreOffice, intuitive UX (user experience) makes for a more welcoming and easier experience. May I suggest the reply icon on the far right, be moved to the far left, where the Solution icon currently is placed. Then swap the Solution icon from the current far left, to the far right location. The reply icon will be used far more often than the once off solution icon. [reply…