This entry was prompted by Tim Bray and Dare and the discussion on comment updates.

Now I absolutely hate it when entries appear in my reader as updated when comments are added to them! Even with "Ignore Updates" in bloglines, I still get some showing. I don't have a problem with atom:updated etc, so long as it's not used to push comment additions as updates. Comments should be opt-in. I subscribe to specific authors with my reader, not every joe commenter.

Anyway, should a user opt-in to comments on an entry, here's how I'd like to see that happen:

Opting-in to comment updates opts-in for that entries updates if they've been set to ignore updates for that feed as default. This is because some people comment inside they're own entries and so the reader knows what comments are referring to. While I'm at it, entry updates should have the option to be highlighted in some way in readers so users can quickly distinguish changes.

Now, anytime a new comment comes in, a users reader would then display the entry with; changes highlighted, the number of comments listed, and how many new entries there are in that comment feed. Using the Atom Threading Extension to achieve all this, entries in the reader display something like this:

My Entry Title

My firstsecond entry content.

2 Comments (+Expand) | 1 New (+Expand) | Subscribe(d) to Comments

Entry Comments:

1. ( ) Julie
   Woot, I popped your comment cherry!
2. ( ) Joe
   Number 2 - this comment is new.

Select ( ): All, New
Mark these comments as: Ignore, Spam

Add Comment

• Clicking the total comment number jumps to the actual blog entry at the start of the comments.
• Clicking "1 New" jumps to the beginning of the new comment on the actual blog entry.
• Clicking Subscribe alerts a users reader to display this entry as updated when new comments come in or changes happen on the entry.
• Clicking (+expand) on total comments expands all comments in the area below the entry in the users reader. New comments are highlighted. After expanding, clicking on "1 New" could serve a dual purpose and take you to that new comment in your reader.
• Additionally/Alternatively clicking (+Expand) after the "1 New" only expands those new comment entries, not existing ones. The news reader could then have default settings for displaying results users subscribe to, only displaying those new comments beneath the entry by default.
• Users could opt to filter out specific users in comment updates. Don't like a commenter? Filter them by name and address(if they're consistant) on a per entry/per feed basis or globally using a drop down. Add "Report as Spam" and checkboxes next to items. Think "Askimet" for in reader comments. Nearly every comment feed I subscribe to has spam in it at the moment. I need a spam filter on top of their spam filters…
  I can see this same spam or splog marking happening for tag aggregators like technorati in the future.
• Last of all an "Add Comment" link or text area could then go after the comments to enter them at the site or in the reader.

The beauty of all this to me is that would allow reading and commenting inside of mobile devices easily all from the one interface. I don't know if there are any readers out there as of yet that will let me expand and read comments in my reader and optionally choose to subscribe to updates of those, but thats what I want. The Atom threading extension comes to mind to enable all of this.

While I'm on updated entries, another pet peeve of mine is occasionally when I also get updated entries appearing multiple times in my reader. Doc Searls (radio userland) feeds annoys the hell out of me for that reason the way bloglines handles it. Updates seem to be given new unique ID's and I get repeat but slightly varying updated entries one after the other. That totally bites. End whinge.