How to deal with orphaned block quotes ?

[Limezy]

An interesting discussion was started earlier today by @yifanyin on the discord chanel.

Block quotes are a really interesting and powerful feature. They can even be used to declutter the graph, as explained in this article.The problem is that block quotes in Athens are somehow "fragile", and less resilient than the page links.

First use-case : the quoted block is not deleted, but the text is removed

What happens ?

• On the quoted block, we see nothing except the number of quotes showing
• The links are not lost, and by putting again some text on the block, it will appear everywhere else

How I think we could improve the UX ?

• I don't think there is any point quoting a void block --> this is probably a mistake
• Moreover, on the block quote side, there is no visual indication that it's a block quote (because there is no text)
• I think there should be a small warning to the user to show him he is quoting a void block
• That warning could be just on the right of the block, like the counter for the quoted blocks
• When clicking to the warning, it could open the quoted block on the side bar, in order for the user to correct his mistake

Second use-case : the quoted block is fully deleted

What happens ?

• Every orphaned block quote will be replaced by the former quoted block address ID, which is something like ((959c7dde4))

How I think we could improve the UX ?

• First proposal :
  • We could do like Roam. Instead of replacing the former quote by its address, just replace it by the deleted quoted block content. There is some connections / linkage lost, but no text is lost
  • I also think we should give a warning to the user, like
  • "this block was quoted X times, are you sure you want to delete it ?"
  • Same kind of warning before deleting a page that has quoted blocks inside
• Second proposal :
  • The idea is to give the user an option to come back later on his mistake
  • For example, the former block quotes that now became addresses, like ((959c7dde4)), would show a small warning side on the right or become clickable
  • When clicking on one of them, it would give you an option to re-create a block that has that same ID.
  • Then you select the page on which to embed that new block
  • Once the new block is done, all former block quotes would sync again to that new block

[yifanyin]

Thanks for the impressive write-up! For the second use case, I think a combined solution like quoting the original content of the deleted block along with its ID can also work. Something like:

• "The content within the deleted block" ((959c7dde4))

So one gets the benefit of both proposals.

[Limezy]

Yes that'd be great indeed !