Forum Discussion
Is there any way to merge conversations when people don't click Reply?
We always have issues with people responding to a conversation but not clicking the Reply button since it sometimes isn't obvious and can be hidden off the screen. Is there any way to merge a conversation into another one so it stays as one conversation like it should have been anyway?
10 Replies
I also see this happening a lot. This is an indication that the UI is not clear enough.
If a software needs education it is not good. It should be idiot proof.
- Marty Smith
Microsoft
Kelemvor333 Microsoft recently made the "Reply" button more obvious so we don't see the problem as much as we used to. We continue to use "public shaming" as our solution. We have fun with it too. We race to see who can be first to reply to the accidental top-level post with the Shame meme. It usually only takes once and that person is cured. (The person can also delete their post and reply properly to stop the public shaming.) We consider the reaction as the digital equivalent of the way you'd react in an old-style meeting. Imagine the speaker has been talking about Project A for 20 minutes and asks if anyone has any questions. New guy raises his hand and asks a question about Project Z. There'd be some shaming. 🙂 I'm not saying this is better than being able to cut-paste replies--just sharing how we cope with it.
Marty SmithWhy are you having to shame your users for falling into a trap set by the UI designers? The trap should be removed.
- ^ yup we use the Shame method too. Cept our meme is photo of Chuck norris, that says "Chuck Norris Replies"
ChrisWebbTechI actually looked for a built in Animated Gif for Click Reply or something similar but it didn't find one...
- Hi guys
Open uservoice for exactly this here
https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/39188143-ability-to-merge-a-stray-response-into-a-
Would vote to push this up the agenda. I voted on it as I get this all the time. Hope Microsoft picks up on it!
Hope that answers your question!
Best, ChrisChrisHoardMVP The main thread of conversation on UserVoice about the more general issue of replies and threading is this one: https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/19224826-better-visual-delineation-between-reply-and-sta
It has over 4000 votes and is over two years old. The same issue keeps recurring, the new threads get merged, and nothing happens.This is a very common request, and is caused by the chat UI not conforming to the standard conventions. In every other chat program, the text box at the bottom of the screen is the thing you use to continue the current conversation.
This actively works against the ingrained muscle memory of everyone except people who have only ever used Teams. Microsoft's response appears to be to make the "reply" buttons more prominent.
It is a bit like creating a car with the brake and accelerator pedals exchanged. It does not matter how many brightly colored stickers you put on the dashboard saying "Accelerator over here!", it will still lead to accidents because every other car in the world ever works a different way.
As UI Guru Bruce Tognazzi puts it:
"It doesn’t matter how fine a logical argument you can put together for how something should work. If users expect it to work a different way, you will be facing an uphill and often unwinnable battle to change those expectations. If your way offers no clear advantage, go with what your users expect."
Judging by the amount of traffic on that UserVoice thread, the way users expect is that the bottom box should continue, not start, a conversation.
There is also no way to merge threads back into a conversation when mistakes inevitably occur, which is the actual subject of this conversation.
About 10 months ago Microsoft claimed that they had started "iterating on different designs". Sorry, but I for one don't believe them at all. In the intervening time they have not shared any of those designs with us? Not even a photo of the paper napkin with a rough sketch on it.
Sean Ellis wrote:As UI Guru Bruce Tognazzi puts it:
"It doesn’t matter how fine a logical argument you can put together for how something should work. If users expect it to work a different way, you will be facing an uphill and often unwinnable battle to change those expectations. If your way offers no clear advantage, go with what your users expect."
Sean Ellis , Yep. "The rat is always right."
- No! There is no current way to do this! I guess deleting and copying the replies as that current user will work as a workaround but it does not exist as a built in feature
Adam
