What determines whether a reply is collapsed or expanded

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1

In a forum post, sometimes a reply is collapsed, and you have to click on it to read it. Sometimes it is viewable just normally without clicking. What determines whether the reply is viewable without the reader having to click on it?

2

Can you link to an example of a reply that needs to be clicked to be seen?

3

This page has several

4

Or does the collapsed reply show up twice? Once below what it is replying to and once at the bottom?

5

I guess you’re referring to quotes by posters? Then it would depend on what content exactly the poster selected for the quote.

6

No, I am not referring to quotes.

7

I assume this is what is being referred to;

image
image879Ă—645 53 KB

Clicking on those;

image
image703Ă—788 45.5 KB

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8

Thank you @SuperS54 I understand now

@Yang1 the replies in the drop down are direct replies to a post. Typically, the immediate replies to a post are not necessarily about the post per se and may be in response to even earlier ones, or they may be introducing new thoughts to the thread.

The collapsible drop-down helps readers who are specifically interested in responses to that particular post so they do not have to wade through less relevant replies.

In other words, they are reprints of what follows below that do not immediately follow a post.

They are determined when the reply author uses the reply link that looks like a curved arrow and is positioned in the lower right corner of a post (instead of using the blue Reply button after the latest post in a thread)

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9

of a post which is not the latest one in the thread.

Added
No. Reply to the latest too.

10

Hang on! I tried out what I described above and it doesn’t seem to work the way I expected

I tried it out on this post and the collapsible section has not appeared… yet - maybe if more posts are added below my replies, the collapsible replies will appear above.

11

It doesn’t seem to be working the way I expected. I hit the reply arrow yet again now and the collapsible replies have still not appeared in the post being replied to

12

I now see the 2 replies link.

Added:
I don’t see 1 reply link for this post, which I posted from mobile.

I posted my previous post from PC.

13

:confused:

I don’t see it :idunno:

You see a link or the collapsible replies?

14

Yes.

I don’t see any reply links on mobile, which I see on PC.

2 Likes
15

I reply on mobile to a not latest post.

Added: then, reply link appeared to the post.

When I did the same to the latest post on mobile, it didn’t happen.
When I replied to the latest post on PC, reply link appeared.

From PC or mobile seems to be irrelevant. It may be because the post got a second reply.

16

I’ve been on mobile since you posted 24m ago so that explains to me why I am not seeing the collapsible replies. Thank you

17

Thank you everyone. I guess this is a complicated issue to discuss in that we don’t see the same things and what we see might depend on if we are using a phone or a desktop.
So I will ask this question - on the page I was looking at, it seemed to me that when I clicked to expand a post, that same post always appeared also at the bottom. If I don’t click to expand, but I read the entire page otherwise, will I see everything? Or will there be somethings I miss?

18

Thank you for the images!

19

Collapsible replies can only be seen if two conditions are met (both of them):

  1. You are viewing the page on a desktop (as opposed to mobile view)
  2. The reply is not to the post immediately above it, i.e. there are other posts between the reply and the target of the reply.
20

is this true?

maybe true, if this is the only reply to the immediately above post.