The UX for paginated threads is awful. I know you want to get rid of it, but I really hope you don't, because reading through something like the 4000 comment Biden thread as a single page would be incredibly taxing, and having to go through 'more' links to get to recent content is annoying.
Long threads do need to be paginated, but I think you should consider what other forums do and add a set of page links at the top and bottom of each page. It would be slightly more clutter but you wouldn't have to remind people that paginated threads are a thing every time it happens.
I still want to just get back to what HN always used to do, which is just render the entire page fast. As long as the page loads quickly, I don't see why a 4000 comment page would be more taxing than having it spread across multiple pages - one can simply stop reading, no?
Better links for navigating around large threads is on the todo list too...
>As long as the page loads quickly, I don't see why a 4000 comment page would be more taxing than having it spread across multiple pages - one can simply stop reading, no?
Threads aren't linear - people don't read them from top to bottom like documents. Every subthread is a separate conversation which the reader may or may not be interested in, and having distinct pages makes discovery easier. Ask yourself why every other list page on the site is paginated? Why have only thirty stories listed on the front page? Why not just list every story ever posted, or every story this year, or the first thousand or hundred at a time?
And as far as "one can simply stop reading," ... yes... but this is a forum. It's primary purpose is to be read, not to demonstrate how quickly Arc can render HTML and send it up the pipe. That isn't even impressive. What is the value added by rendering a thread in a single page? How does that make the site better than pagination? What is the user getting in return for the loss in readability?
The UX for paginated threads is awful. I know you want to get rid of it, but I really hope you don't, because reading through something like the 4000 comment Biden thread as a single page would be incredibly taxing, and having to go through 'more' links to get to recent content is annoying.
Long threads do need to be paginated, but I think you should consider what other forums do and add a set of page links at the top and bottom of each page. It would be slightly more clutter but you wouldn't have to remind people that paginated threads are a thing every time it happens.