I've added a beta of this feature to the site. Feedback is welcome.

--jeremy

Thank you, Jeremy. That works just fine... I like it.

Cheers

Same here, & you did it quickly too. It really does make the difference I expected in understanding the flow of the conversation in threads.

2 possible improvements:

• Move the "Original Poster" line higher, at least to the 3rd position; but preferably to 2nd:
  
  Quote:

  archtoad6 Original Poster Senior Member

• Tag the 1st post as well. This is obviously redundant, but I'm finding it jarring to go back to the 1st post in a thread & not find it tagged -- I get used to seeing the OP referred to as "<OP> ... Original Poster" & get momentarily confused when I only see "<OP> ... "
  
  It would also alert newcomers to the site to expect the tags.

The original placement actually was higher up, but the text seemed to get lost. We can experiment with different placements if the consensus is that a move would be more ideal. The first post not being tagged is by design.

--jeremy

Quite frankly, I was thinking about just an icon next to- or a font/color change in- the OP's user name. I've seen that on other forums, but to be honest, I don't know if they are using VB, and I'm clueless concerning VB's capabilities/limitations. And personally, what you have done works just fine for me. You might also check out this thread.

Cheers, and again, thank you.

Bill

I found the placement (a ways down and in bold face) quite adequate and eye catching. That's not to say there couldn't be a better placement, but no idea immediately jumps out at me.

Thanks again.

And thanks to dragonslayer48dx for cross linking these two threads. (I had no idea it was a feature request. I figured any discussion would have to be on LQ S&F and specifically double checked that thread before posting.)

Original Discussion
As well as http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...10#post3544110 where I originally made the suggestion.

Appreciation
Before I go into my suggestions for fine tuning this improvement, I want to say "Thank you, Jeremy" for implementing it. Even if you do not agree w/ my ideas below, the change is wonderful just as it is.

Expectations
So was I.

I really liked the icon/flag idea until I realized that it would probably exacerbate the widening of the left panel caused by users who pick looong LQ names not knowing that spaces are allowed in user names.

So that leaves changing the appearance of OP's name by color, weight, slant, or any combination of the 3. I still like these, at least in theory -- I have no idea how the differences between browsers can mess up the page designer's intentions.

Making it even better
After using this feature for a short while, I have a new suggestion: 2 OP tags on every OP post, one at the top & one at the bottom. Here's why -- What makes this new feature so useful is that it tells us what we are looking at when we scroll through threads. The emphasis is on scrolling, & having an OP indicator visible as soon as you scroll into one of OP's posts, would make this improvement even more useful; therefore, one at the top & one at the bottom. I would do this by moving the existing "Original Poster" line to the bottom of the left panel, & adding an addition indicator at the top of the post. The addition indicator could be a copy of the "Original Poster" line w/in the 1st 3 lines, or a change in the appearance of OP's name, or something else.

Making it better II
I assumed as much when I made the suggestion above & I also didn't think it would make a difference when I made the feature request. After some experience w/ the new feature, I have changed my mind & think that the 1st post should be tagged as well, for the stated reasons: