Comments on passages

On an article, you can react to one passage instead of the whole piece. What you and other readers leave on a passage shows in the margin, to the right of the text, beside the paragraph it belongs to.

Selecting text

Select a few words in the article. A small bar appears above the selection with two actions:

• Comment on this passage opens a thread in the margin, with the field ready to type in.
• Like likes the passage.

You can also act on a whole paragraph without selecting anything. On a large screen, move the pointer over a paragraph: a rule appears on its right and, in the margin beside it, the actions Like, Comment on this paragraph and Repost. Repost starts a post on the article that quotes the paragraph.

What the margin shows

Each passage that has something on it shows a card in the margin: the faces of up to four readers who left something, and a line such as "2 commented · 1 liked". Click the card to open its thread: the quoted passage, the comments, and the field to write yours. The margin is a little faded until you point at it.

Passages are also listed under the comments at the bottom of the article. A comment on a passage shows the quoted text above it, and clicking the quote takes you back to the passage in the article.

Blank blocks, calls to action and announcements have no margin.

Link to a passage

In a thread, Copy the link to this passage copies a link that opens the article on that passage.

On a phone

There is no margin on a small screen. Paragraphs that have something on them show a thin rule at the right edge of the screen. Tap in the right third of the screen, or swipe a paragraph to the left, and the paragraph slides away to show its cards and actions, as a row does in a list on an iPhone. Tap elsewhere, swipe back or scroll to close it.

On a large screen, swiping a paragraph half way with two fingers on a trackpad (or with a finger on a touch screen) opens its thread with the comment box ready.

A snippet inside an article

An article can hold snippets: a text, a gallery, a card. You can comment on and like the text of a snippet the same way as a paragraph. A snippet with no text of its own, such as a card or a file, takes your comment as a whole. What is written on a snippet belongs to the snippet, not to the article, so it shows beside the snippet in every article that uses it. When it was written in another piece, the card says "From another piece ·". The comments written on snippets while reading an article are also listed under that article, with the quoted text.

Beside a snippet, two more actions appear, because they act on the snippet as a whole:

• Save keeps the snippet for you. It is private: nobody sees it, it is never counted and the author is not told. Your saved snippets are on your Saved page, with your other saved items.
• Share uses your device's share sheet, or copies a link. The link opens the article at that snippet.

Repost and Like beside a snippet are the snippet's too.

Who can comment

The author decides who can react to an article and, separately, to its passages: anyone, only subscribers, only paid subscribers, or nobody. If you can't comment, the thread says why, for example "Subscribers comment on passages here". See Who can react.

If part of an article is for paid members, the comments and likes on that part are for paid members too. A free reader doesn't see them, or the text they quote.

Hiding comments on passages

The eye at the bottom of the margin, on a large screen, hides the margin on every article, on this device, until you show it again. The author or the publication can also turn it off (see Comments on passages).

When an article is edited

If the author edits a passage after people commented on it, Peakub looks for it again in the new version. When it can't be found, the comments are kept and listed under the article as On passages that changed, with the text they were made on.