I was going to ask for something almost exactly the same, so as not to make a duplicate request there's a small improvement. The title of my feature request would have been: Display at the top of long/collapsed comment blocks: "There are a total of X comments | show Y hidden comments".
Unupvoted comments auto-collapse after anywhere from 2 to 500 answers are offered to a question, depending on which site. Sites where the value was not adjusted default to 30. The exact number of comments displayed varies site by site but once you get to the bottom it says:
Add a comment | show X more comments
My complaint is that having the interest, and taken the time, to read the comments the newest ones are not displayed until you request them. Often when you hit show X more comments
there are collapsed comments that appear above where you are, sometimes this necessitates rereading all the comments.
My suggestion is:
- If there are more than a certain number of comments or collapsed-inline (not at the bottom) comments then at the top of the comment block have this line:
There are a total of X comments | show Y hidden comments
- Leave the bottom of the comment block as it is now:
Add a comment | show X more comments
This allows you to see upfront if there are more than a certain number of comments and if there are hidden comments that you might want to expand prior to reading the comments. This lets you make a move informed decision about the time invested and if you want to expand the comments before you start reading them.
Sometimes useful replies to a previous comments don't get an upvote but are important to the conversation, and an answer you might provide after carefully reviewing the other answers and comments.
It is annoying to read a long string of comments only to discover the 'hidden comments' message and upon pressing it a dozen more comments automagically appear interspersed with comments you've already read.