Reading in the margins: a prototype

This is a prototype of an interactive post. Hover over any paragraph and a small marker appears in the right-hand margin. Click it to open the comments panel, add a note, and leave your name. Once a paragraph has comments, the marker shows a count so other readers can see where the conversation is happening.

The idea borrows from the way people actually read together. A good piece of writing rarely lands the same way for everyone, and the most interesting response is often not a like or a share but a question in the margin. Comment threads at the bottom of an article flatten all of that into one undifferentiated pile. Anchoring a comment to the exact paragraph that prompted it keeps the thought where it belongs.

Notice that you do not have to register. The first time you comment, you add your name, and it is remembered for the rest of your visit through a small cookie. You can change it whenever you like. There is no account, no password, and no email to hand over before you can join in.

Try replying to your own comment to see how threads nest. A reply sits underneath the comment it answers, indented and marked, so a back-and-forth reads as a conversation rather than a list. Keep replies to a single level for now, which is usually enough to follow who is answering whom.

Comments are shared: anyone who opens this page sees what you post, alongside what other readers have said. Each conversation stays attached to the paragraph that started it, where the next reader will find it.

Because anyone can comment without an account, every comment is checked automatically as it is posted. Most go up straight away, but anything that contains a link or uses language we would rather not host waits until someone at Brink has read it. In the meantime you will see your own comment marked as awaiting review. If a published comment should not be there, the report link beside it sends it back to us for a second look.

Have a go: leave a comment on this paragraph or reply to someone else's, then come back later to see who has answered.