Google+ prepares to add Link Previews in Comments and the ability to show Low Quality Comments

Besides our very own forums, Google+ has long been a great place for Android users to congregate in communities around their favorite ROMs or apps. Many of our readers likely only use the website because for the longest time it was required to sign up for application beta testing.

For some time, you were even required to use an account there just to comment on YouTube (though last year Google reversed that change after much backlash). Google hasn’t yet given up on its social media website yet, and since the website is supposed to be used for far more than just users of Google products, it appears that Google may soon roll out additional features including the ability to view link previews in comments as well as the ability to show/hide low quality comments in order to improve everyone’s user experience while using the app. We’re seeing evidence for these features in the latest Google+ update version 8.2, by the way.

Disclaimer: The evidence we dig up from the APK files of an app are not definitive. Google may choose to pull these features without any indication in a future release.

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Link Previews in Comments

Currently, Google+ doesn’t provide many formatting options for commenting on a post. In fact, the few formatting options that are available aren’t really publicized at all. Even on the desktop version of the website the comment box is pretty much void of any options.

It appears that Google will finally be bringing at least one new feature to the comment box; a feature that has already existed for quite some time whenever you create a new post: the ability to add a properly formatted link with a link preview.

<string name="create_comment_add_link_button">ADD</string>
<string name="create_comment_add_link_hint">http://bit.ly/29jOEFe;
<string name="create_comment_add_link_title">Add a link</string>
<string name="create_comment_invalid_link">"The URL provided isn't valid"</string>
<string name="create_comment_preview_error">No preview available, but you can share a comment instead.</string>

As someone who frequents several Google+ groups for Tasker creations, it’s about time. Google+ comments can become a mess if you share a lot of different links.

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Low Quality Comment Toggle

Finally, if you’re a masochist Google+ will soon allow you to unhide comments that have been removed by its spam filter. Currently, users are able to choose between 5 different reasons when they report a comment. If enough people report a comment and Google+ decides the comment violates its content rules, then the comment will be hidden from the public feed of comments. Unfortunately, such a system can be abused so Google+ will soon allow us to toggle between showing/hiding comments that it has deemed to be “low quality.”

<string name="menu_show_low_quality_comments">Show low quality comments</string>

We know that this menu option will appear under the dropdown menu whenever you open the menu in any post, according to these next few strings.

<item android:id="@id/show_low_quality_comments" android:title="@string/menu_show_low_quality_comments" support:showAsAction="never" />
<item android:id="@id/hide_low_quality_comments" android:title="@string/menu_hide_low_quality_comments" support:showAsAction="never" />

 

Current Options Underneath Every Post

showAsAction being set to “never” means that the menu option will only be shown in the overflow menu list, and the fact that no icon is identified in these strings indicates that it will merely show up as another text button in the menu.

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That’s all we’ve found in the latest Google+ update. Do you still use Google+ regularly? Let us know your thoughts below!