"Related Stories" panel

[5580463]

I am sorry if this is discussed elsewhere as well, I wasn't able to find anything.

These last couple of weeks I've noticed a new design element when opening an article, the "Related Stories" panel. It’s what shows up when you click on an article, scroll down to see the top comments and after a second or two this “Related Stories” panel will appear and push the top comments section further down the page, and in many cases out of sight.

Don't know what everyone else's thoughts on this are but, in my opinion, it is not an improvement in the user experience of the forums. It obviously isn't a major thing, but, is it something that's here to stay?

 

[Weaselboy]

Ping @arn @WildCowboy

 

[sman789]

Are you able to tell us what browser and hardware you're using. With Safari on my MacBook and iPhone, the Related Stories area loads in together with the story and comments. I don't get to see the comments get pushed down by the related stories.

 

[5580463]

Absolutely, I see this happen on Safari (16.5.1) on a M1 mini (Ventura 13.4.1) and on iOS (16.5.1) safari on my 13 pro. I don't expect that it matters but I use Wipr content blocker on both platforms. Interestingly, on Firefox for Mac + uBlock origin, the Related Stories area does not show up at all.

Edit: iOS video demo attached

 

[WildCowboy]

The delay before loading isn't nearly that long for me on Mac or iOS. Pretty much by the time I've scrolled down that far, it's loaded in. Not sure why it's taking longer for you.

It's part of a new search functionality we started testing a couple of months ago and are still refining. I'll have to defer to @arn on technical details about whether its behavior can be tweaked.

 

[5580463]

Alright, thank you. I’ll update here if I notice any difference down the line.

 

[Christoffee]

I have the same problem/annoyance on iOS and iPadOS.

Also, it feels advert-y to me. It is something that is trying to grab my attention and divert me to another page. It doesn’t feel like helpful content. I use adblockers and pay for content I appreciate so I don’t have to deal with adverts, and this feature really bothers me.

 

[Christoffee]

Hi there. This is my video of the same behaviour.