Mark as spam control is obtrusive

[j.c.sackett]

The new Mark as spam control is a pretty big part of the interface for something not used too often. Something less obtrusive would be nice.

Suggestions have included a small icon by the comment number that immediately hides the comment, or one that brings up an AJAX picker similar to the "affect-also" controls.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

If you must repeat yourself in a UI, do it unobtrusively. Things that help:

- Brevity. In Ubuntu Software Center reviews we use a single word with a question mark -- "Inappropriate?" -- and we don't put an icon next to it. (Using an edit icon for marking spam makes no sense anyway.) Some Web sites go the opposite route, using just a flag icon with no text (see for example the Disqus theme currently used by OMG Ubuntu).

- Dimness. In USC we make the link light grey, and this is fairly common in other forums.

- Compactness. Put the link on the same row as other metadata. Launchpad bug comments are awfully laid out generally (a hangover from the Plone era that I never got around to fixing), but at the very least the link could be on the same row as the commenter and date.

[Curtis Hovey (sinzui)]

Making the link light grey contradicts the rule that links that change the page content are green. I favour only showing the link when my pointer of over the comment, or when something in the comment has focus.

[Jonathan Lange (jml)]

+1 re moving to the bar with the other metadata.

[j.c.sackett (jcsackett)]

I'm not sure about text like "Inappropriate?" That doesn't tell me I'm about to take real action, as opposed to just flagging something for someone to look at.

[Martin Pool (mbp)]

Since this is an admin-only interface I think just having an icon
(with title/tooltip text) would be totally sufficient, perhaps just
the "x" icon. Separately we can add a "flag for review" that users
can push.

[Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt)]

Yes, the "Inappropriate?" link in USC is for non-admins to flag a comment for review. Admins have a separate aggregated review interface.