Comments - tree or linear?

Question

User interface

Hello.
What are the trends in the comment feed in 2019? (more precisely, looking at the past 2018)
There are linear comments, there are tree-like ones. Tree-like ones differ in the maximum nesting depth. And each type of kamentov has its advantages and disadvantages. But what looks normal on wide screens turns into a hell of a stream on mobile. And I'm looking for the perfect implementation for PC and mobile.
For example, VK introduced tree-like comments - though the depth of the branch is one. It's convenient that you can reply to a person and go to a new thread with him, but then it's hell to follow new comments on a post. And anyway, then if there are a lot of people, the branch no longer goes into depth. VK now let you see the entries in which there were answers - but everything is collapsed there by default and you spend time opening these branches - re-reading them again. In such a situation, I personally lost the desire to seek answers for me and continue the dialogue. I think VK themselves see that the activity has fallen - the devils rolled out what.
There are also tree-like comments on Habré. But there, personally, I always encounter a problem when the discussion went the wrong way - just a blockage in the branch and it can’t be removed (they say it’s a little better in the mobile version). There they solved the issue of tracking new comments with a dot on the right - it is used to navigate to new ones. But as for me it's a crutch.
On a small screen, tree-like comments are a mess.
Linear comments can contain a link to the quoted message or the quote itself and who it is from. A linear view is easier to read - apparently life on the forums in the 2000s accustomed us to this view. Yes, and it’s more convenient to follow here - I went in today - I linearly squandered the comments until yesterday and you read them.
Question: so what are the pros and cons of these 2 types of comments?
Have you come across the ideal implementation of comments?
In general, I am looking for inspiration - I will be grateful to you for your answer and, if any, links to working options for such comments and their advantages. I'm not looking for plugins - I'm able to write similar functionality myself. I'm looking for where to "peek"
I've looked at plug-ins and comment services - but they all smell like the 2000s. Actually, since their creation, the structure has not changed. But besides diskuses, sites also have their own solutions - these are the ones I need. Convenient both for communication and answers, and for tracking.
If you know options for generally unearthly comments - as if a psychopath made them - let's go too. For inspiration and non-standard options, they can go into business.

Answer 1

IMHO, a tree-like system with the ability to collapse a branch, navigate through comments, and so on is ideal. Look at the implementation on peekaboo.

Answer 2

Personally, I like linear comments more, they are easier to read.
Tree-like, it is necessary to limit: one, maximum two levels, when more - it turns out nonsense. Yes, and they are also much harder to develop, unless, of course, you use a ready-made solution.

Answer 3

You compare as one or two types of comments, although they are used depending on the situation, the audience of the site, the dependence of the site on comments and on the topic of discussion.
They came to VK in a tree-like comment system, because in large communities, sometimes the entire comment feed could be devoted to a dispute between two or three people, and the topic of the post was already losing its meaning. Sometimes the tape consisted of a thousand comments, and it was impossible to read all of them, so the system justifies itself, just like on Pikabu and Habré.
As for linear comments, I would classify them as low-visited sites or sites where comments do not play a major role. This applies more to some reviews, questions and answers, instructions, articles in which the main content of the article, and not its criticism in the comments - in all these cases, there will be a maximum of 10 comments under one post, then you can apply design skills, and make a beautiful - linear tape.
So, pros and cons:
+ Not cumbersome, you can apply a minimalistic design
+ Ability to see all comments at once
+ Convenient to read when there are few comments
- The entire feed can be clogged with a dispute between two or three people
- With a large number of comments, the entire feed can be crammed with one topic.
- In the entire feed, it is difficult to respond to a specific person, because the comments come in very quickly.
- Mostly read the first 5 - 10 comments.
- It is difficult to moderate, you have to read the entire feed.
+ All information is structured
+ You can discuss several topics under each branch.
+ You can ignore branches that you are not interested in
+ There is a chance that your comment will be seen)))
- It is difficult to come up with a universal design solution.
- For low-visited sites, a scenario of only one branch is possible, in which there will be several more branches, it will not look very logical.
Well, in principle, there are no more minuses.
For inspiration:
https://www.behance.net/gallery/67790255/Mayak-Dig...
https://www.behance.net/gallery/18107439/Facebook-...
https://www.behance.net/gallery /29582047/Social-El...
https://www.behance.net/gallery/70595543/YBC-Mobil...
https://www.behance.net/gallery/72907227/Social-Me...
https ://www.behance.net/gallery/74783973/Facebook-...
https://www.behance.net/gallery/67072175/Ataman-We...

Answer 4

If you want to completely drive on usability, then make several options for comments and the ability to switch between them. I saw this somewhere, it's convenient.
For example
- by date added (list)
- by topic (tree)
- by relevance (likes)
- etc.

Answer 5

It depends only on the type of conversation and the presence of moderation.
Linear with pagination requires the work of moderators with the removal of offtopic and flooding.
Tree-like - for free communication.

Answer 6

It is possible (but difficult) to do like on Twitter. There, tree-like (infinitely nested) comments look like linear ones.

Answer 7

My IMHO - it all depends on the needs. On YouTube, for example, I would not like to see tree-like comments with a lot of nesting. The ability to respond to individual people completely satisfies me.
On the other hand, I would not want to see this on reddit.