Why does having discussions on chat platforms suck?
Almost every discussion I've had on these platforms (telegram, slack, etc.) gets all tangled up in sub-chats around quotes. It's like everyone's talking over each other, topics getting mixed up and you're left scrolling trying to find who quoted what from where.
https://cq2.co seems to have an interesting approach on this problem with its UI. What's your take on it?
9 comments
[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 42.1 ms ] thread(2) I am not seeing any sign of a solution on the page though, just another confusing interface and no explanation of how it is going to solve the problem.
> no explanation of how it is going to solve the problem.
I didn't what you meant. The explanation is mentioned on the site: "CQ2's unique sliding panes design with quote-level and n-level threads helps you hyper-focus on one thing at a time. No more losing context. No more copy-pasting quotes.".
> another confusing interface
Interesting, did you try the demo (https://cq2.co/demo) as well? I've simulated a real LessWrong discussion there and I think it turned out much more organised and focused, because of its interface.
(2) I felt like I was thrown out at sea 20 miles without a lifejacket
(3) I am not sure how you square "hyper-focused" with not "losing context", this is not so much as a criticism of the particular UI but a challenge anybody in this space is facing
(4) As a newcomer to this interface and this discussion the need for the big picture with context is much greater than the need to zoom in close (how do I know that I care enough to zoom in close w/o the the context?)
(5) Not so sure lesswrong is the best example if you want a broad range of people to feel included.
I've developed a smart RSS reader YOShInOn and a bookmark manager/web crawler/personal data lake/image sorter FRaXiNUs based on the same code base which will probably get merged back with the former. I did some experiments with running YOShInOn against comment feeds that were really promising so better interfaces for comments have been on my mind. Look up my profile and send me an email.
Interesting. I've now put a helpful toast/hint on the demo. Hope that helps with interacting with the interface.
> I am not sure how you square "hyper-focused" with not "losing context"
By hyper-focused, I meant one can discuss one topic at a time in a particular thread. By not losing context, I meant one can clearly see (in the thread to the left of the current thread) where that topic arose from. In regular chats/forums, one needs to keep the context of who quoted what from where in their head. In CQ2, it's clearly visible.
> As a newcomer to this interface and this discussion the need for the big picture with context is much greater than the need to zoom in close (how do I know that I care enough to zoom in close w/o the the context?)
In CQ2, one would read a message fully, and if the message has quoted threads arising from it, one would decide themselves which thread they want to go deeper in. Does that clear your doubt or did I misunderstand something?
> Not so sure lesswrong is the best example if you want a broad range of people to feel included.
I just took an example of a complex public discussion I found. Only other examples I have are either personal or private team discussions. Curious to know why you think it matters whether the example is from lesswrong or not? Or maybe you can share what better kind of example would you suggest?
> experiments with running YOShInOn against comment feeds that were really promising so better interfaces for comments have been on my mind
Interesting! Will drop an email and would love to see what you have in mind.
Thanks for all the feedback!
Which seems like it is your own site or your relative's and you did not disclose that it is.
Because this sounds like an ad so it should be disclosed?
"all these other platforms suck but look at this one!"
I wonder whether we would be having this conversation had I asked a random friend to post this instead of my brother (and hence you wouldn't have found out that the OP is a relative of the creator). Would you then have said that my friend should have disclosed that they're friends with the creator? However, I would agree that it might sound like an ad, but more importantly, he also asked for feedback.
> "all these other platforms suck but look at this one!"
I do believe that discussions on all other chat/forum platforms (telegram, slack, discourse, reddit, etc.) suck and want to share about CQ2's approach and get feedback on it, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Also, this is more about the interface/approach than the product. I myself wish that existing chat/forum platforms had an option for that interface instead of needing a different product just for complex discussions. I don't know when/if those platforms would implement that, hence decided to build a product.