A lot of times, some of the most satisfying things about using Movable Type are the little touches that make managing a site easier or more convenient. One of those great, unheralded features that's been around since MT4's release is a simple ability to reply to any comment directly from the Movable Type application.
The feature is documented as part of our larger guide on Managing a Community with Movable Type, but since it's a handy shortcut, it's worth calling out on its own. Simply point at any published comment in a comment listing page in Movable Type, and you'll see a "Reply" link appear. (If you've set your display options for that listing page to "Expanded", you'll always see a Reply link next to the Edit link.)
Click the Reply link, and a simple window will pop up with the full text of the comment you were replying to, along with a big space for you to type your reply.
As soon as you click on "Submit", your comment will be published on the relevant entry or page. If you're using threaded comments on your site, Movable Type will automatically display your comment as a child comment of the one that inspired it.
There are lots of other ways to make use of this convenient feature, but this one should be a winner if you live in the Movable Type administrative interface all day and prefer to respond to your community from that familiar environment.
Mike T
October 15, 2008 9:52 AM | Reply
It would be a good idea to update the Wiki to have the full contents of the Comments module in there for each example of threading.
Paul William Tenny
October 15, 2008 10:29 AM | Reply
You know what would be great? No, of course not, I haven't told you yet. Alright, here it is: the page overlay style of replying (as seen in the screenshot) being how you replied to comments on the page itself. e.g. that style of replying were consistent and the default across the entire application.
That would be sweet.
Deeleea
October 18, 2008 8:49 PM | Reply
It's awesome that we can do this now without an extra plug in but the thing I love about NotifyReplyee is that I can select the option to email them my reply.
Not everyone who reads me subscribes to the comments to read the conversation... having the email option means the conversation can continue 'off base' and has been a cool way to connect better with my readers,