Discussion

Every record has one conversation, kept next to the record, that everyone in the workspace can read. It is for the things a field cannot hold: why you picked this one, what to watch out for, what you decided and when.

The loop:

1. Open a record and pick the Discussion tab in the side panel (beside Cobb and Pinned). On a record whose detail view is a modal, press the Discuss pill.
2. Type in the box at the bottom and press Enter. @ names a person, a record, or Cobb.
3. Catch up on everything with something new in it on the Discussion page in the nav.

One conversation per record

• Not a thread per topic. It reads top to bottom, oldest first, like a chat, and everyone in the workspace sees the same one.
• The tab is the page you are on. Unlike the Cobb tab, which follows you around, Discussion shows the record in front of you, with the record's name as a chip. Move to another record and it shows that one's conversation.
• Not on a record? The tab shows the workspace room: one conversation for everyone here, for things that do not belong to a particular part or machine. Mentions work the same way in the room.
• On the record itself you get a short preview: how many comments there are and the most recent one. Click it to open the panel and reply. An empty conversation is just the Discuss pill.
• Every kind of record has one, including builds, knowledge entries, lists, projects, sales orders, tracked metrics and catalogs. Nothing to enable per module.

Why records and the room are kept apart, and what fires

What was said about a machine is there next time anyone opens that machine, a year later, without anybody having to remember. The room is for everything else, and the Discussion page lists both, so there is still one place to catch up.

Comments and resolutions are events like any other, so a wire can fire on them.

Replying to a comment

1. Press the Reply arrow on the comment.
2. Your next message carries a quote of the one it answers.

• It stays one flat conversation. No sub-threads, no indentation, which is what keeps it readable on a phone. You can reply to a reply, and the quote points at whatever you picked.
• Tap a quote to jump to the message it came from. It flashes so you can see which one.
• Quotes stay accurate. The quote shows the original as it reads right now. If the original was edited after you replied, your reply says edited since this reply. If the quoted message was removed, the quote says so and your reply stays.

Mentioning someone or something

Type @ and pick from the list. Keep typing to narrow it, press Enter to take the highlighted one. The picker works the same on a phone.

• A person gets a notification, and a Discord DM straight away if they have connected Discord. Being named reaches you directly, which is different from something happening on a record you follow.
• A record creates a real link between the two, visible under Linked entities on both. Mention three printers in a note and each printer points back at the note. It is the same link you could make by hand.
• Cobb brings the assistant into the conversation (below).

How mention links behave over time

A mention stores which record or person you meant, never the name that was on screen when you typed it. Rename the printer and every mention of it updates, including ones written months ago. A record that has since been deleted still leaves its mention in the text.

Take a mention out of a comment and the link it created goes too, unless somebody else's comment still names the same record. Links you made by hand are never touched by any of this.

Asking Cobb in a conversation

Type @cobb in a comment and he answers in the discussion, where everyone can read it, not in his private panel.

• Replying to Cobb asks him again, so a back and forth does not need @cobb every time.
• You will know before you send. When your message is going to reach him, the composer says Cobb will reply, with don't ask Cobb beside it for when "agreed, let's take it" was addressed to a person.
• Whoever asks is who he answers as. Cobb reads the workspace under the permissions of the person who asked, and each answer says asked by whom. Reply to an answer somebody else requested and the next one runs under yours.
• He never joins uninvited. He never comments because something happened, and he never follows a conversation.
• Answers take a moment. You see Cobb is thinking while it happens. If it fails, or nobody has an assistant connected, the conversation says so rather than staying silent.
• People following the thread are notified of his answer like any other reply, so asking from your phone and walking away works.

Keeping up

The Discussion page in the nav lists everything with something new in it, newest first, in three lanes:

• Addressed to me: somebody used your name. This is the only kind of notification that interrupts you rather than waiting for your usual delivery time.
• New: unread on something you follow.
• All: everything you follow, read or not.

What lands there is decided for you:

• Following happens by itself. Comment on a record and you follow it. Get mentioned and you follow it.
• The bell in the Discussion tab turns following off, and off sticks. Reading a conversation never quietly re-subscribes you.
• Unread clears by reading. Opening the panel marks it read. In the list, unread is a dot, not a bold row.
• A new message arrives lit. A reply posted while the tab is open (from the app or from Discord) shows up on its own, highlighted amber with a new tag for a few seconds, and the tab scrolls to it. Your own messages are never lit.

Settling, editing, removing

• Settle a conversation with the check button in the tab's header, or on its row on the Discussion page. A settled tag shows on the record and in the list. Press it again to reopen, and a new message reopens it too. Nothing is deleted and it stays searchable.
• Members and up can settle and reopen. A guest sees that a conversation is settled but cannot change it.
• Edit your own comments with the pencil next to Remove. Save (or Enter) keeps the change, Escape cancels. An edited comment carries a small edited note, and any reply quoting it says edited since this reply. You cannot edit anyone else's comments, and Cobb's answers are not editable.
• Remove takes the text away but leaves a message removed marker, so a reply that answered it still makes sense. Anyone who replied keeps their reply.

Replying from Discord

If you have connected Discord, a mention reaches you as a DM straight away, as a card showing what was written, with a Reply button.

1. Press Reply. Discord opens a text box.
2. Type and submit. Your answer lands in the discussion as your comment, attributed to you, and the card shows it under the message it answers, with the time.

• Typing in the DM instead does nothing. Discord only tells Cobblr about the button, not about ordinary messages sent to the bot. Use the button.
• You never pick a workspace. The card already knows which record it was about.
• Not connected? The Discussion tab says so once, with a Connect Discord link and an X to put it away for good. Without Discord, a mention still reaches the bell and your inbox, just not immediately.