We introduced Live Replies almost a year ago, and nothing has been the same since. F5 keys and refresh buttons everywhere have been spared the repetitive strain of the constant jabbing of the index fingers of eager Multiply users awaiting comments from folks in their networks, and we sleep soundly every night knowing that they can rest as well.

But did you know that your viewing history -- those little faces that appear in the box at the bottom of your posts that show you who's viewed it -- now refreshes live as well? This means that now, when you're staring at your newly-posted photo album or video or blog entry (and so on) waiting for your Live Replies, you can also check out who's viewed your post (but hasn't commented... ingrates!) in real-time... all without laying a finger on your keyboard!


Note that, at this time, both Live Viewing History and Live Replies work with the standard "Chronological" and "Reverse" comment views. Fans of "Threaded" mode, we haven't forgotten about you... but your patience is certainly appreciated.

We just added some new improvements to the Live Replies^TM feature we recently told you about.

For one thing, you no longer have to explicitly choose Live to see new replies as they come in -- if you're using chronological or reverse comment views, Live Replies^TM is now automatically enabled for your account. (However, Live Replies^TM doesn't work with threaded view just yet.)

Because everyone makes mistakes (oh, yes they do!), you can now preview comments you write, as you write them. And as part of the package, spell check now works with all commenting views, including those that are Live-enabled.

Finally, because everyone hates to be forgotten, when you resize any reply box on Multiply, your size preference will now be remembered. Any resize-enabled reply box you come across in the future will remember just how big -- or small -- you like it.


We also took care of a few other miscellaneous issues:

 
• If you write in a language that uses accented characters, we've taken care of the encoding issue that was mangling your writing. (Sorry about that!)

 
• You can now reply directly to comments using the reply box in email alerts, whether or not you're signed in.
 

Ever feel like your fingers live on your refresh key? Refresh, refresh, refresh, waiting for a reply that you just know is coming... any minute now, naturally?

Well, here’s refreshing news: we’ve taken the work out of playing the waiting game (or dare I say put the fun back into it?). You now have a new way to (view/interact with) items posted on Multiply... live! Now when you view posts, you'll be able to see replies as soon as they're posted, similar to how IM or a chat room works. Follow the conversation as it happens. No extra clicking. No refreshing. No fuss. No mess.

You don't need to do anything to get this feature; we've gone ahead and enabled Live Replies^TM for you. This streamlines the process of posting replies; your reply appears instantly without having to wait for your browser to load the entire page again. And if someone else is viewing the same page, they too will see it as soon as it's posted!

While Live Replies^TM is a quick way to get the conversation started, replying to existing comments is done by clicking on "reply to this", where you'll find the usual range of options you're used to, such as quoting parts of, or subscribing to the post you're viewing, and spellcheck.

If that wasn't enough, now when commenting, you'll be able to resize the text box to fit your writing -- and not the other way around. (check out the image below to see how).

If you find you prefer the old way of doing things (can't live without threaded mode?) don't despair. All of the views that you're used to are still available, only now there's more to choose from. You'll find the options on any content page, directly above the comment area.

So go ahead and choose the mode that's right for you; we find that things work better when you do.

You can read our formal press release here.