Thread/"Respond to single post" option

[theDyingMountain]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
In long chats with many messages and participants, it would be helpful to be able to respond directly to a single post. On slack.com this is called "Start a thread".

Describe the solution you'd like
A button "Start thread" which opens a discussion about the post in the right sidebar.
Example from slack:

In the main chat an intented message with the number of replies is shown.
Example from slack:

---

• API API - Message threads #9679
• Frontend Frontend - Message threads #9680
• iOS Message threads talk-ios#1266
• Android Message threads talk-android#3074

[nickvergessen]

We will not start threading, but replying is certainly an option.

[nickvergessen]

Actually this is duplicate of #1136

[szaimen]

@nickvergessen is this really a duplicate of #1136?
I wonder if you implemented threads or just replying to other chat messages?
Because Replying in e.g. in Slack and Whatsapp isn't solved the same way: in Whatsapp you just quote (and link) to the comment you were responding to and in Slack you can create a Thread. Are both ways already implemented with #2000?

[nickvergessen]

No we only implemented replying similar to whatsapp. But we are not going to implement threading. We are a chat-focus app, not a forum replacement.

[szaimen]

This is not about building a forum replacement. It is about making Talk as userfriendly and productive as possible. And threads are an important part of that imo. Furthermore, just because other chat apps like WhatsApp and Telegram haven't implemented threads yet doesn't mean that this feature wouldn't be useful at all and could also differentiate Nextcloud Talk from them in providing better tools for productivity! BTW: I think both ways to reply have their right to exist so I think they should be implemented both. And one thread level (so beeing able to answer to a message in a thread form but then chronologic again) would be enough imo. E.g. Microsoft Teams is doing that just right.

[szaimen]

Replies are not yet released, so I would propose to check it out and rediscuss it again after you tried to use it sometime, although I don't see much point in this.

I will let you know. 👍

[szaimen]

BTW:
This is how Threads are handled in Microsoft Teams which is the inspiration for this and works quite well:

(and would also work quite well in Nextcoud Talk, I am sure!)

So the first level would then be the normal chat like it is currently implemented and the only difference at first glance would be a reply button on the buttom of each message so that you can start a thread for each message on the first level. So it is basically an expansion of the current system.

[nickvergessen]

Comment from @jancborchardt

Threads (ref Discord, Element)

• Discord: https://blog.discord.com/connect-the-conversation-with-threads-on-discord-3f5fa8b0f6b

[amsel54]

I would highly recommend such a feature, to have the possibility to group messages and to collapse and hide such "threads/topics" within a group chat.

[MPStudyly]

In theory it should already be possible to implement some sort of threads "light" in the frontend only by leveraging the logic introduced with replies. In this case, threads are not logically different from replies, they are just visualized differently. Telegram implemented such a feature for channels/large groups somewhen during the last two years. When you tap a message (Android) which got replies or is a reply, the context menu has an option "show replies", which opens a new view, showing all related messages just like a thread. When implemented like this, it could be made toggleable by users to keep the linear view (status quo) or visual grouping to threads, without requiring any changes on the backend.

[small1]

From what i have seen the last year this is atcually a requested feature. And some opts for apps liker Mattermost or Rocket chat as talk lacks it. ar least the basic stuff added here from @szaimen would be enough (rocket.chat has for example threads and discussions that differs in how it handles stuff) And then we also have slack with their huddle stuff that when you have a smaller video meeting a thread is opened for just that meeting and not cluttering the rest of the chat. This would be good together with the silent meetings just inviting a few participants.

[Weltenstoeberer]

The lack of threading is the only feature that keeps my company from using Nextcloud. An implementation similar to Slack or Mattermost would be great. Then it would be the perfect platform for all tasks....

[fragger1991]

Meanwhile we also use Mattermost with the thread function. With calls and the focal board, other similar functions were added to Mattermost, which we need in everyday work. Nextcloud was supposed to be our central platform, but due to the lack of threads alone, Nextcloud unfortunately wrote itself off. We currently only use Nextcloud to share files, the clients are used for this, no longer the interface. Too bad that Nextcloud missed this opportunity, Mattermost has now seized it.

[marcoambrosini]

more references:

• https://slack.design/articles/threads-in-slack-a-long-design-journey-part-1-of-2/
• https://slack.design/articles/threads-in-slack-a-long-design-journey-part-2-of-2/

[sascha08-15]

Is this topic on the roadmap?

[stef-bloom]

Strange that nextcloud email forces threads with no option to disable them, while for Talk we have the clutter that comes with unthreaded conversations.
Please add a feature to reply to messages in public threads, the way I can in Slack.

[jospoortvliet]

Is this topic on the roadmap?

Yes, we'll implement it, one way or another. I don't know the ETA on it, but such a feature is often requested and makes sense. We just have to find a way to do it that works nicely in our user interface. There are some bad implementations out there, thoughts on and examples of good ones is genuinely welcome!

[githubkoma]

Dear Team,
thanks for the awesome Talk App !

I love and hate threads equally in other messengers, so i would like to propose an usability and readability option.

Background (or "what drives me mad"):
Everybody knows the flow of conversations, they have the tendency to get unstructured and important threads of messages get "buried" below new incoming messages in the parent channel.
Also People sometimes dont answer in threads, either they dont want to use threads, or they accidentally answer in the parent channel.
This makes things more than often confusing to follow..

How it works in other messengers now:

• Open Channel
• Write either directly into the channel, or reply to a thread

My Proposal to implement perhaps as follows:

• Open Channel
• DONT ALLOW to write normally. input field is disabled
• Just allow to reply to threads, that are already open
• AND have the ability to create a new thread
• Allow like up to 3-6 Threads per Conversation max, so users who open the channel dont get excessively overwhelmed.
• Design: Perhaps let it look like Tiles within a Conversation, that can be tapped/clicked on to open up the Thread, and those tiles could have in itself an Unread Counter, ...

Perhaps with an option per Conversation, like in Conversation A this is activated, and in Conversation B,C,D its just like it was before. This way it could be a feature to be experimented with (A/B Testing, starting in Web Version, ...)

Thanks for considering and wishing you the best,
githubkoma

[githubkoma]

I made a mockup of what a thread enabled channel perhaps could look like to (1.) achieve or even (2.) enforce a structure thats different from other Thread views:

[KaliPhobos]

Only using the reply-to option doesn't properly scale with user numbers. Especially when multiple concurrent discussions take place in a single group chat, it's very hard to follow -> Threads
I really like Discord's implementation of threads, which allows user-managed "channels" for individual topics, which reduces moderation effeorts (having to create new group chats for new topics). It's especially helpful how users can see a list of "active threads" to pick from to partake in the discussions.
A similar "active threads" overview would be great :)

[9joshua]

Conversation threads are the only feature I really need in NextCloud. Following the tested and proven example of Slack threads is the best solution IMO...

Creating separate conversations for micro topics isn't practical. Take for example, the comment from this forum post:

The idea you have one conversation per topic which would loosely translate to a “thread”. You discuss “Ferrari” in one chat and “Lamborgini” in another even same people participate in both chats.

Someone in the Ferrari conversation might mention they have a 1989 Ferrari. Another user does as well and they go on at length about their experiences while flooding the main Ferrari conversation.

[eldelacajita]

I agree this feature, or a similar one that helps grouping conversations, is key for Talk to be used on a professional level.

To complement what has been said so far, I think an important part of implementing this type of in-chat threads is finding existing threads, so they don't end up buried up in the chat.

Just a possible solution using the existing Nextcloud interface paradigms: the right sidebar (which has tabs like "participants", "shared items" or even "breakout rooms" in conferences), could get a new tab called "threads". To make it relevant, I think it should be the default tab, and always be open by default if the chat has threads.

UI choices that focus on avoiding duplicate threads and "orphan" messages that could have joined an existing thread, are crucial for the feature to be useful at all.