Add a user preference to automatically show all comments

Question

I'm one of those users that read the comments (all of them) when I'm reading a question or answer. It's super-annoying to to me when I start reading the comments and get about halfway down, only to realize I've missed half of the conversation. So I go down and click the link to show the comments, then go back and read through parts of the conversation I missed. I'll take the cost of the "extra scrolling" to get between question and answers.

Alternatively add a way to show all comments immediately from the top, so that at least I know I'm seeing a truncated view before I waste time on it. But I'd prefer to just be able to read them without having to click every time.

I know we discourage comments, but since they're already there, and usually have information I want, how about letting me have it without jumping through hoops first?

Answer 1

I don't think that there should be a setting for automatically showing all comments. However, I have gone through your exact scenario so many times - read halfway, realize there are another 20 some comments, click show all, and then be forced to re-read the whole set with the gained context.

The alternative is really a nice touch though. Perhaps if there were more than a certain number of comments total (20?), then it could also include the show all comments link above all of the comments so that context is not lost and the reader knows what they are getting into.