We have a new feature in our commenting system, requested by several people. If you click the ‘Reply’ or ‘Quote’ buttons on the top line of a comment to post a reply to someone’s comment, you’ll see a new checkbox appear at the top left of the comment posting box, labeled “Return after posting reply.” It looks like this:

If this box is checked when you post your reply, your browser window will be automatically placed back at the top of the comment to which you were replying, letting you easily continue reading the thread from that point on without having to scroll back up and hunt for it.

If the box isn’t checked when you post the comment, it behaves the way it always has.

If you change your mind after clicking ‘Reply’ or ‘Quote,’ and clear the entire comment posting box, the ‘Return after posting reply’ button will also disappear.

The status of the checkbox is saved in a cookie in your browser, so if, as a rule, you prefer not to return to the originating comment after posting a reply, just uncheck it once and it will be unchecked the next time you reply to a comment.