User:Coffeeandcrumbs/Hanging chads and double chads

Hanging chad's are not as cool as Chief Master Sgt. Chad Clark hanging off a helicopter during a combat search and rescue exercise.

Hanging chads and double chads are by-products of careless talk page editing. It is annoying to some editors to see them, especially to some of those users whose talk page comment became a victim of a hanging chad through no fault of their own. Beyond being annoying, they make a threaded discussion messy and difficult to read. You probably came here because I edited your comment. Please understand that my edit did not change how your comment is rendered and is permitted per Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines#EDIT as it is fixing format errors that render material difficult to read.

In some instances, your edit, inserting your comment above an already existing comment below it, changed how that comment below appears. You inadvertently created an error in the comment below, an error that was not there before you made your comment. You did this without even touching the comment below you.

Hanging chads

Below is a demonstration of a hanging chad:

* User A commented here.
*:User B commented here.
*:User C commented here.

This is the result:

• User A commented here.

  User B commented here.

  User C commented here.

When you insert a comment like so:

* User A commented here.
*:User B commented here.
:::You comment here.
*:User C commented here.

This is the result:

• User A commented here.

  User B commented here.

You comment here.

• User C commented here.

↑↑↑ This is a hanging chad.

Below is how you should insert your comment:

* User A commented here.
*:User B commented here.
*::You comment here.
*:User C commented here.

• User A commented here.

  User B commented here.

  You comment here.

  User C commented here.

Double chads

Below is a demonstration of a double chad:

* User A commented here.
*:User B commented here.
*:*User C commented here.

This is the result:

• User A commented here.

  User B commented here.

  • User C commented here.

When you insert a comment like so:

* User A commented here.
*:User B commented here.
::::You comment here.
*:*User C commented here.

This is the result:

• User A commented here.

  User B commented here.

You comment here.

• • User C commented here.

↑↑↑       ↑↑↑ This is a double chad.

Below is how you should insert your comment:

* User A commented here.
*:User B commented here.
*::You comment here.
*:*User C commented here.

• User A commented here.

  User B commented here.

  You comment here.

  • User C commented here.

...or even better, to avoid confusion about which comment came first, you should insert your comment like so:

* User A commented here.
*:User B commented here.
*:::You comment here.
*:*User C commented here.

• User A commented here.

  User B commented here.

  You comment here.

  • User C commented here.