Idea: Long threads, made easy!

[Cyberguy34000]

Edit: Question has already been answered, thanks!

Well, we've got quite a few threads on CD that easily exceed 50+ posts and when you're jumping in cold to one of those threads, it takes a VERY long time to read everything.

What about, a fairly obscure feature that would, when activated, turn the entire thread into a very long text document, but take out all of the "extra" stuff, such as pictures, signatures (worst offenders), user info, etc. What would be left would be a single line that said the user who posted, and the time of the post. And the body text of the message of course. This would take a surprising amount of filler space out of some of the longer threads, and make them a lot easier for new people to jump in on the discussion.

A good place to put this would be under the quick links section.

To get an idea of how much filler space you could take out, I used the zap tools for firefox. And wow, it's alot. I mean, that filler space is full of useful information, but not so when you are reading a post with a ton of replies and already know most of the posters.

So what do you think?

[Ryan M.]

Actually, it pretty much already exists. Click on "Thread tools" -> "Show printable version." On that page that appears, click the "Show all XXXX posts on one page." (Under the page switching links in the upper righthand corner.)

[Ken Leung]

Even though I haven't visited for a while, the long thread discussions caught my eye and I want to comment on it a little bit. Before I do that though, I just want to answer this question quickly and let you guys know at the bottom of the page there is an "archive" button that have this link:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/archive/index.php

It's a very simple version of the forum with no user picture or signature. At times I fine it very useful to read the threads from there. It also gives you a huge amount of threads per page. The only thing to note is inside each sub forum the order of threads are reversed. You have to go to the last page to see the most recent threads. But you are all engineers and I am sure you can figure it out ;-).

[Cyberguy34000]

Oooh, didn't see that... cool. I love it when I want a feature and it's already implimented. Thanks for pointing it out to me that it already exists. I wonder what pre-implimented feature I'll think of next :)

[Conor Ryan]

one more tid bit, don't forget for us full interface users to try to obey these guidelines (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37038) the almighty Rich Kressly set forward not to long ago concerning signatures. It kinda helps everyone maintain the focus of the thread and saves precious bandwith.