I know I can configure that so it still happens, but if I didn't (or for most first-time visitors or people clicking links from other sites and just getting here) it appears that the default order has been reversed.

In other words, comments seem to be listed with most recent at the top.

Obviously this may be deemed useful, to keep the most topical at the top.

But I find it counter-intuitive. As comments multiply and discussions develop, it's quite common for subsequent posts, even in different threads, to refer back to earlier comments. Sometimes the meaning and sense of later posts is dependent on those previous posts.

Therefore I think it would be better if the default for comments was earliest first (at the top) and scroll down to see the logical development unfold.

Also, if you retain the most recent at the top, then really the sub-threads should scroll UP from their root to be consistent, because the sub-threads are most recent, and the direction of comments is "going upwards" for anything more recent.

Forgive me and disregard all this if it's just my computer/configuration that's adrift... my preference is partly measured by some of the complicated sequence of comments that developed in the Jeff Davies story, which depend for their sense (in some instances) on reading the previous before you read the later.

If newcomers arrive at ICANNWatch and get the new default, I think they will tend to read everything in reverse order.

Just my comments in the context of a really encouraging development of your site, for which, many thanks!

Richard Henderson