I prefer the pop ups they help make the page look better.

Overall, I like the pop up comment box as is. It is, however, a bit difficult for me to track the different conversations that go on, because whenever I click on a post to see what it was replying to, half the comment box will disappear and I'll have to fidget with the browser and the comment box a bit - but generally I'm able to get it to all appear again. Maybe this is a Chrome issue. It isn't so bad that I stop caring about comments, by any means. That's definitely the heart of the site.

@cannon21:

Oh, I kind of like that idea! You see maybe the latest 5 comments in-page, and then to add your own or see the rest, you get the pop up.

After seeing how the comment box loaded much slower due to the influx of comments in the Comment Slam announcement, I think it would be better if we stick with the pop-up design. The in-page comments might have caused us some inconvenience in the comment slam if it had been implemented today.

I really love pop-up box comments. After all, it is what makes theO different. However, they do get annoying. I really dislike how on my iTouch I can't scroll down or anything and how the top part of the box gets cut off by the horizontal ad sometimes. Despite all that, I seriously love the pop-up box design. It's clean, organized, and it doesn't crash my browser like dA does sometimes because of the in-page comments. So that being said, let's keep what makes us unique.

I like the pop-up comment boxes, but unfortunately one of my subscribers can't use them. When I comment on her art, she has to reply by PM. I assume that other people have that bug problem, too. So maybe it should be changed.

If the comments do get changed, what if there was a scroll button for them? That way the pages wouldn't be so long if they get a lot of comments.

The day this was posted, my comment box was broken. XD

But I do prefer the pop-up comments to the ones right on the page. ^^' Less clutter is good!

@:

Hey... maybe THAT's why my comment box wasn't working yesterday! (The ad was an eyesore, too...)

Pop up for me.
The only way I'd say otherwise is if they in page only for the latest comments and if you wanted to look at previous ones you could click for popup mode.
This is how I feel about page numbers in the comments.

In-page comment box seems to be more simpler to use than pop-up comment box as I find webpages using in-page comments (like MSN for instance) are more organized when separating them in pages, and it yes, the pop-ups aren't as bug free as I hope when it sometimes bring up the "stop running sripts?" message.

Guess I'm back on the Pop-up side. It's great when it works (and it's working in IE again).

I like the pop ups...

I'm happy with the pop comments, though sometimes it acts all crazy if there are a lot of comments. Yesterday, it kept loading up behind the table, and I can only comment in compatibility mode (Int. Exp. 9), still, I like these pop ups. These kept the comments nice and compact, unlike in youtube and other sites were you have to scroll all the way down on an awfully long page (or they have page numbers, wtf). Man, I hate doing that. So yosh, these are awesome.

Even though sometimes they don't work very well pop up comments are still cool and do seem much neater!

I love love love the pop up comments. It's different and cleaner. Many of my posts are long enough then to scroll through that to get to the comments and yadda yadda. Pop-up I say!

@Allamorph:

Indeed.

Furthermore, really, that's it?

I prefer pop-up,because is more practical for me.
And yup,that's less cluttered!^_^
Anyway I'm happy that way!XD LOL!~

I like the pop-up box. It makes using the site easier. While it is a little annoying that I can't comment when i'm using my phone, I don't tend to do that anyway.

Plus the boxes look neat and tidy.

The pop-up comment box definitely makes things less cluttered. It's also less disruptive to the page being commented on. I like being able to choose whether I read the opinions of others, and it's also more convenient. Keep them the way they are.:3

Yes, I agree that the pop up makes it organized. But it rarely ever works for me on my usual browser and I have to open up Internet Explorer if I just want to comment. It's either that or have to send a private message.

All in all, it's nice, but the buggy-ness could be fixed.

I like the comment box as it is. Its very organized and less cluttered. On MT I always found it too busy. I hate having to scroll down so much and I love organization.

So pop up all the way! X3

OMG I was just thinking about this a few days ago. Personally I hate the pop up comment window, because half the time it IS buggy and I can never reply to comments. Please take it away!

I think the pop-up is a different and unique way of commenting that most other sites don't have, plus it makes it easier to keep track of what was said without trouble, however, if you're using a mobile device of some sort then Javascript is required.

Weighing pros & cons in things like this isn't easy.

I like the pop-up because things are more organized and you can move the box around, etc.

I like the pop-up, because it just makes everything feel cleaner. The original page, the comments, and I'm all about clean, simple interfaces for web pages.

I think I'm leaning more towards the on-page comments... if only because just now I had to get on here with Firefox because Internet Explorer won't open the comment box >_<

So yeah, pop-up comments are neat, but on-page comments are less buggy. Heck, you could probably make on-page comments contained within a field and in a scrollable box.

I like pop up more. It does seem neater than other sites.

I love pop-up a lot more, since then you are still albe to view the artwork, worldpost, etc. This way you can see/read what your commenting on and thus usually comments tend to be more detailed. If it would be in-page most of the time you'd probably have to scroll to see what you're commenting on.

@Pleiades Rising:

Really, guy?

@Adam:

Oh. My. Holy. Goodness. whydidntiknowthis.

I like the pop-up comments too!
However if you do change it, maybe having a 'click to see comments' button would be nice. It seems it's the bugs rather than the extra click that is giving people problems.

Having the comments embedded on the page at the bottom of the main text shouldn't be too much of a problem for this site, I think. The problem I find with some sites that do that is when the main text itself is quite lengthy and complex, and the resulting comments are themselves long and many (e.g. 30+ comments on an article). I find myself having to scroll up many times or having to open the same page in a new tab to leave a proper comment (and that's not including when I'm also working with some of the comments).

That said, that doesn't really happen much on this site, where for example the news section gives us the info in condensed bites with a handy link. I don't find walls of text here that often (unless I'm constructing one of those mammoth texts - with multiple links!), so having them in-page could be workable. Mind you, it does look kind of ugly and unwieldy when there are waves of comments on a single post, but that might be partly handled by keeping the comments hidden until you click on the comment-link. (like some news site do).

If the text on this site were something like featured blogs or essays, then the pop-up works better, I think. However, most posts on the main pages are short and the comments are shorter too (rarely going beyond 3 paragraphs, each of considerable length). In-page would look fine for most news items, but it would look kinda clunky for caption battles (for which, my previous comments on workability and length don't really apply: you see the picture and post away; constantly referring to texts isn't an issue there).

On a final note, if you change the pop-up to in-page, is that site wide, e.g. for Worlds as well? I don't know how you could possible keep two comment systems intact, which would probably add to overall bug-related issues. If it is indeed site wide (news, fan art, Worlds, ecards, wallpaper) then those lengthier World posts that are widely read would be subject to my previous critiques. (But here too, since fan words or articles aren't really the hot new thing anymore, I doubt it would give many people problems.) If you can live with the inherent ugliness on some posts (which would occur mostly on the caption battles) then go for in-page; it'll cut down on the bugs, which is always a plus for any site. I think this site works well with either system, but losing the pop-up wouldn't really hurt it at all.

Am I the only one here who remembered the time when theOtaku (or rather, myOtaku) had in-page comments? In a way, I liked it then since it gave a permanent URL for the comments section. However, that concern of mine can actually be achieved at present. I also remember preferring the in-page comments then since I wouldn't have to worry about pop-up blockers, but the current system wouldn't have that problem since it technically doesn't use a regular pop-window.

So at this point, I prefer the current pop-up comments instead of the in-page comments.

I don't understand much about coding and the complexities/limitations, but is there a way that someone could toggle the way the comments are read in their backroom? I have no personal qualms with the current comment box (and like it very much, in fact, and have never had it bug out on me to what other people've experienced) but taking a third option and going with both sounds rather accommodating.

Normally I'd say in-page comments, but TheOtaku has a very nice pop-up comment system, more sleek and versatile than other sites - so I'd say to keep it. If you have a lot of people torn, perhaps you have it so that people can either enable the pop-up, or the in-page comments. I imagine it'd be helpful for when one or the other is acting buggy.

If there's one big thing I'd love to have on the site, it's the same as kittens 3, a 'preview' button - I believe I even mentioned it once in one of my worlds. I'm seriously lamenting over the fact that there isn't one, and rushing over to my post to check for errors, and then quickly running over to the edit page, isn't something I enjoy doing over and over again.

I kind of prefer pop up mainly because I don't have to scroll around to see the image or so, especially when my mouse is acting up (scroll up is down, down is up=what). The only thing I don't like about pop up is that it doesn't pop up or work properly sometimes.

I prefer in-page comments. The pop-up comments never seem to open properly for me on any of my computers. There's always a good horizontal chunk missing from the box... Not to mention the pop-up comment boxes are more difficult to access when you're on a mobile device.

I guess I prefer the pop-up. Sure there are a few bugs sometimes, but with the pop-up I can still see the original page, and thus remember what the heck it is I'm commenting on.

Pop-up. It looks SO much nicer, and is so much.. cleaner.

I have a suggestion though. A "preview" button. I'm often scared I'll not link right, and I'll edit and people will see I edited my post and know why and they will judge me and AGHGH. So, a preview next to submit would be handy.

Also, The only thing I don't like about the pop-up is that I cant view all the comments on my iPod and such. I can view the last comment made; and it pops up fine, but it doesnt scroll.

On that note, related to my iPod, you need to make an iPod app for theOtaku chat.

I like the pop ups better because I can see the artwork and the comments at the same time without scrolling down the page.

I like the in-page comments better. The pop-ups are ALWAYS buggy on my computer. Its always saying something about scripts. On deviantart where you just scroll down, its a lot easier and efficient. Plus, you can see other comments while you're writing yours.

I like the pop-up way best.

Pop-up for me.

I prefer in-page instead; sometimes the pop-ups don't allow me to comment. Sometimes when I'm using different devices to comment, the whole pop-up doesn't show on the screen so I have to minimize the window to see the whole comment box. I have bad eyesight so it may be different for others.

I like the pop-ups, if only because they have a very handy function with posts: If I need to reference something the person said in a post, I can move the window around and have it hover in a spot where I can look at said reference.

That and they work, so why change it?

I like the pop-up. It keeps my computer from lagging D:

Pop up is totally the best! XD
Especially now that it's been fixed so that the window can move around. That makes it easier to comment while looking at the thing you are commenting about.
I really don't mind the "extra click".

Well normally I'd say in page comments but our comment boxes are very versatile so I'd rather stick with them. :)

pop-up is better

i liked in page comments