Add a feature for thread OPs to mark certain replies as “updates” - Expand the Highlights feature so OPs/Moderators can manually highlight posts which contain significant updates, factual information, or exceedingly valuable commentary

[HeyItsHarveyMacClout]

While I really enjoy the highlights feature, I believe it’s flawed in that it seems to arbitrarily pick replies to highlight and it can completely miss significant developments in a thread/stick a large, informational posts in between a sea of jokes and hot takes. I think the best solution would be to add an identical feature called “updates” which allows thread OPs, mods, and maybe select users to manually mark important replies as updates, so users can sift through 100s of page long threads and only see the most relevant, impactful replies. While I definitely think highlights still has a place and should not be changed, I do believe having a feature specifically designed to highlight high quality replies which are human curated would really improve the quality and accessibility of the site.

 

[Joe Swanson]

Problem with that is a lot of OPs abandon their threads after a while

 

[HeyItsHarveyMacClout]

Problem with that is a lot of OPs abandon their threads after a while

Maybe mods could appoint users on a thread by thread basis who could flag updates? I was also considering a reaction for users over a certain age/score that’d flag it, but I could see that backfiring.

 

[NerdShamer]

What about the highlight feature? It can be reworked into a clone that showcases major spikes of drama.

 

[AlexJonesGotMePregnant]

Highlights is an automated feature, I like the OP's idea but it gets back into the difficult territory of manually curating content which is likely unsustainable. I don't think there's a silver bullet for the problem of trying to find the 'real' content in a thread as different people have different ideas of what 'real' content is. I don't think creating new roles and responsibilities that will require significant operational work over time is the right solution.

Highlights doesn't solve it either, but I think it's a reasonable enough approximation. At the very least, it points you to the drama. Sometimes you just have to click around a bit as you're navigating through the highlights to get to whatever your definition of ideal content is in a thread.

 

[Wendy Carter]

Just report a relevant post and ask a mod to add a link to it to the OP with an "update" prefix in big letters at the very top somewhere. It hinges on mods noticing and/or caring enough to do it, but will very likely work for bigger and more notable threads.