System for categorizing and displaying reply messages in computer facilitated discussions
First Claim
1. A computer implemented method for managing a discussion, the method comprising, at a computer connected to a communications network:
- receiving a first message by way of the communications network;
associating the first message with a group of two or more response categories;
receiving one or more reply messages in response to the first message by way of the communications network, each of the one or more reply messages associated with one of the two or more response categories; and
, formatting and forwarding to a user on the communications network a display comprising elements representing the first message and elements representing one or more of the reply messages, the display indicating one of the two or more categories with which each of the one or more reply messages is associated;
wherein the elements representing the reply messages are arranged in columns on the display and each column corresponds to one response category in the group of response categories.
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Abstract
A system for operating news groups or discussion groups requires a user who posts a message to specify two or more categories for reply messages. The system associates the categories with the message. The system requires a user who posts a reply to a message to categorize the reply into one of the categories. When the system displays a message thread the system displays messages in each category differently. In a preferred embodiment there are two categories and reply messages in a first one of the categories are displayed on a first side of a display and reply messages in a second one of the categories are displayed on a second side of the display. A user can see the general point of view of reply messages without reading the text of the reply messages. The system may be applied in a manner which permits users to see a graphical display which indicates which reply messages to a posting agree with the point of view expressed in the posting and which reply messages disagree with the expressed point of view.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A computer implemented method for managing a discussion, the method comprising, at a computer connected to a communications network:
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receiving a first message by way of the communications network;
associating the first message with a group of two or more response categories;
receiving one or more reply messages in response to the first message by way of the communications network, each of the one or more reply messages associated with one of the two or more response categories; and
,formatting and forwarding to a user on the communications network a display comprising elements representing the first message and elements representing one or more of the reply messages, the display indicating one of the two or more categories with which each of the one or more reply messages is associated;
wherein the elements representing the reply messages are arranged in columns on the display and each column corresponds to one response category in the group of response categories. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
YES, NO;
TRUE, FALSE;
AGREE, DISAGREE;
YES, MAYBE, NO;
AGREE, DON'"'"'T KNOW, DISAGREE;
WORSE, THE SAME, BETTER.
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8. A computer implemented method for managing a discussion, the method comprising, at a computer connected to a communications network:
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receiving a first message by way of the god communications network;
associating the first message with a group of two or more response categories;
receiving one or more reply messages in response to the first message by way of the communications network, each of the one or more reply messages associated with one of the two or more response categories; and
,formatting and forwarding to a user on the communications network a display comprising elements representing the first message and elements representing one or more of the reply messages, the display indicating one of the two or more categories with which each of the one or more reply messages is associated;
wherein the elements associated with the reply messages have a first color for reply messages associated with a first response category in the group of response categories and the elements have a second color for reply messages associated with a second response category in the group of response categories. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
YES, NO;
TRUE, FALSE;
AGREE, DISAGREE;
YES, MAYBE, NO;
AGREE, DON'"'"'T KNOW, DISAGREE;
WORSE, THE SAME, BETTER.
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11. A method for retrieving and displaying messages in a discussion group, the method comprising, in a programmed computer:
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receiving on a communications network a first message, one or more reply messages in reply to the first message, data specifying two or more response categories and data indicating one of the two or more categories with which each of the reply messages is associated; and
,displaying on a display associated with the computer a representation of the first message and representations of a plurality of the reply messages;
wherein displaying the representations of each of the plurality of the reply messages comprises visually marking the representation of the reply message so as to indicate the category with which the reply message is associated by displaying the representations of reply messages associated with different categories in different colors and displaying representations of reply messages associated with the same category in the same color.
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Specification