System for categorizing and displaying reply messages in computer facilitated discussions

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.

1 . A computer implemented method for managing a discussion, the method comprising, at a server connected to a communications network: 
 receiving by way of the communications network a first message from a message originator, receiving from the message originator information specifying a group of two or more response categories with which reply messages responsive to the first message should be associated and associating the group of two or more response categories with the first message;    receiving by way of the communication network, one or more reply messages in response to the first message each of the one or more reply messages associated with a user-selected one of the two or more response categories, storing the reply messages and storing information associating each reply message with the corresponding user-selected one of the two or more response categories; and,    in response to a request received from a user, forwarding to the user on the communication network data for a display comprising an element representing the first message and elements representing one or more of the reply messages, the display indicating the one of the two or more response categories with which each of the one or more reply messages is associated.    
   
   
       2 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein receiving the first message comprises forwarding from the server a web page comprising a form to the message originator and, at the server, receiving by way of the communications network data input by the message originator into the form.  
   
   
       3 . A method according to  claim 2  wherein the data input by the message originator comprises information specifying how many response categories are to be included in the two or more response categories.  
   
   
       4 . A method according to  claim 2  wherein the data input by the message originator comprises a descriptive title for each of two or more response categories in the group of two or more response categories.  
   
   
       5 . A method according to  claim 1  comprising receiving from the message originator information specifying how many response categories are to be included in the two or more response categories and including the specified number of response categories in the group of response categories.  
   
   
       6 . A method according to  claim 5  comprising receiving at the server a descriptive title supplied by the message originator for each one of the two or more response categories.  
   
   
       7 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein receiving one or more reply messages comprises receiving at the server computer, by way of the communications network, a request from a user to post a reply message responsive to the first message; in response to the request forwarding to a user a form, the form requiring the user to select one response category from the group of response categories associated with the first message, and receiving data entered into the form by a user, the data indicating the one response category selected by the user.  
   
   
       8 . A method according to  claim 7  wherein the form includes the two or more response categories and includes a mechanism for receiving a user input selecting one of the two or more response categories.  
   
   
       9 . A method according to  claim 8  wherein forwarding to the user the form comprises retrieving from a database a descriptive title for each response category in the group of response categories and writing the descriptive titles to the form.  
   
   
       10 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein receiving the reply messages comprises receiving information specifying a group of two or more reply message response categories with which further messages responsive to one of the reply messages should be associated and associating the group of reply message response categories with the one of the reply messages.  
   
   
       11 . A method according to  claim 10  wherein the group of reply message response categories is different from the group of response categories.  
   
   
       12 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the group of two or more response categories each have user-specified descriptive titles.  
   
   
       13 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the group of response categories includes at least three response categories.  
   
   
       14 . A method according to  claim 1  comprising including in the display indicia indicating a volume of reply messages received at the server for each of the response categories.  
   
   
       15 . A method according to  claim 1  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.  
   
   
       16 . A method according to  claim 1  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.  
   
   
       17 . A method according to  claim 1  comprising, associating with each of the reply messages verification information specifying whether a true name of an author of each of the reply messages is unverifiable or verifiable wherein formatting the display comprises selecting for display only reply messages for which the verification information indicates that the true names of the respective authors of those reply messages are verifiable.  
   
   
       18 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein the group of two or more response categories consists of a group selected from the set of groups: FOR, AGAINST; 
 YES, NO;    TRUE, FALSE;    AGREE, DISAGREE;    YES, MAYBE, NO;    AGREE, DON'T KNOW, DISAGREE;    WORSE, THE SAME, BETTER.    
   
   
       19 . A method according to  claim 1  wherein receiving from the message originator information specifying a group of two or more response categories comprises both receiving a number of response categories to be included in the group of two or more response categories and receiving a descriptive title for each of the response categories in the group of two or more response categories.  
   
   
       20 . A method for retrieving and displaying messages in a discussion group, the method comprising, in a programmed computer: 
 receiving from a server by way of a communications network a first message, one or more reply messages in reply to the first message, data specifying two or more user-supplied response categories, the response categories associated with the first message and specified by an originator of the first message, and data indicating one of the two or more response categories with which each of the reply messages is associated;    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 which one of the user-supplied response categories the reply message is associated with.    
   
   
       21 . A method according to  claim 20  wherein visually marking the representations of the reply messages comprises providing a separate window on the display for each of the plurality of response categories and displaying the representation of each reply message in the window associated with the response category of the reply message.  
   
   
       22 . A method according to  claim 21  comprising, for each of the response categories, displaying on the display a descriptive title for the response category in a position corresponding to the window associated with the response category.  
   
   
       23 . A method according to  claim 20  wherein there are two response categories, a first response category and a second response category.  
   
   
       24 . A method according to  claim 23  wherein visually marking the representation of the reply messages comprises providing a first window in a left-hand-side portion of the display and a second window in a right-hand-side portion of the display, displaying reply messages associated with the first response category in the first window and displaying reply messages associated with the second response category in the second window.  
   
   
       25 . A method according to  claim 24  comprising displaying the reply messages in each of the windows in a chronological order of posting.  
   
   
       26 . A method according to  claim 20  comprising displaying on the display indicia indicating a volume of reply messages associated with each of the two or more response categories.  
   
   
       27 . A method according to  claim 20  comprising providing a plurality of columns on the display, each of the columns corresponding to one of the response categories, wherein displaying the representation of each reply message comprises displaying the representation of the reply message in one of the columns corresponding to the response category associated with the reply message.  
   
   
       28 . A method according to  claim 27  comprising arranging the representations of the reply messages within each of the columns in order of posting of the reply messages.  
   
   
       29 . A method according to  claim 28  comprising arranging the representations of all of the reply messages in order of posting of the reply messages.  
   
   
       30 . A method according to  claim 20  wherein the group of two or more response categories consists of a group selected from the set of groups: FOR, AGAINST; 
 YES, NO;    TRUE, FALSE;    AGREE, DISAGREE;    YES, MAYBE, NO;    AGREE, DON'T KNOW, DISAGREE;    WORSE, THE SAME, BETTER.    
   
   
       31 . A method according to  claim 20  wherein receiving from the message originator information specifying a group of two or more response categories comprises both receiving a user-specified number of response categories to be included in the group of two or more response categories and receiving a descriptive title for each one of the response categories in the group of two or more response categories.  
   
   
       32 . A computer readable storage medium carrying computer readable instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to carry out a method according to  claim 1 .  
   
   
       33 . A data structure stored in a computer readable medium, the data structure comprising: 
 a) at least one originating record corresponding to a first message posted by a user, the originating record comprising fields indicating at least two reply categories for messages in reply to the first message; and,    b) a plurality of reply records each corresponding to a reply message posted by a user in reply to the first message, each of the reply records including a data item identifying the originating record and a data item indicating one of the at least two reply categories with which the reply message is associated.    
   
   
       34 . A computer system comprising: 
 a) a data processor;    b) a memory accessible by the data processor; and,    c) a data structure as recited in  claim 33  resident in the memory.