You are right, simplicity is not bad and a newbie user might indeed be overwhelmed by all the choices in DWs commenting form.
But there's making things simple and easy to use and then there's making things so "simple" that they become actually harder to use. I can't say much about threading because I've never used it much either and I guess subject lines are mostly used in comms and depending how much time one spends haunting those places one needs them or doesn't. What really annoyed me though was the nixing of spell check and preview.
In a text based medium it strikes me as a less than ideal decision to do away with the spell check and the preview button. I might be biased because I'm a non-native English speaker, but I used the spell check option all the time and checking one box and pressing one extra button is so much easier than opening an extra tap with the online dictionary and checking every single word I feel unsure about. And considering all the time I've borked my HTML, I wouldn't want to miss preview either.
So there's simplifying and then there's oversimplifiying to the point where the user is made to feel powerless/has to fear looking stupid on the internets. And I feel with this latest change LJ overshot option one and headed straight into territory of option two. Plus, the way the whole thing was communicated was just really unprofessional and condescending and I think that's where a lot of the user vitriol is coming from.
no subject
But there's making things simple and easy to use and then there's making things so "simple" that they become actually harder to use. I can't say much about threading because I've never used it much either and I guess subject lines are mostly used in comms and depending how much time one spends haunting those places one needs them or doesn't. What really annoyed me though was the nixing of spell check and preview.
In a text based medium it strikes me as a less than ideal decision to do away with the spell check and the preview button. I might be biased because I'm a non-native English speaker, but I used the spell check option all the time and checking one box and pressing one extra button is so much easier than opening an extra tap with the online dictionary and checking every single word I feel unsure about. And considering all the time I've borked my HTML, I wouldn't want to miss preview either.
So there's simplifying and then there's oversimplifiying to the point where the user is made to feel powerless/has to fear looking stupid on the internets. And I feel with this latest change LJ overshot option one and headed straight into territory of option two. Plus, the way the whole thing was communicated was just really unprofessional and condescending and I think that's where a lot of the user vitriol is coming from.