Moderated collaborative editing in collaborative content items

A computer program product for suggesting replacement text in a collaborative content management system, the computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and including instructions adapted to cause at least one processor to execute steps comprising:

• receiving a plurality of comments from a plurality of users within a same copy of a collaborative content item stored by a collaborative content management system, the comments each associated with a respective text span in the same copy of the collaborative content item and including respective proposed replacement text for respective text spans;
• responsive to receiving a respective comment of the plurality of comments from a first user of the plurality of users, causing display of the respective comment in the same copy of the collaborative content item without causing display of the respective proposed replacement text in the text span, wherein the same copy is updated to include the respective comment, for display to an author of the collaborative content item, the first user, and a second user of the plurality of users, at a same time based on the first user and the second user being part of a first audience list that is specific to the respective comment;
• responsive to receiving a user selection of the displayed comment from the author, causing display of the respective proposed replacement text in the same copy of the collaborative content item in lieu of the respective text span while also causing display of another comment of the plurality of comments added by the second user to the author but not the first user based on the author being part of a second audience list that is specific to the another comment and the first user not being part of the second audience list, the second audience list indicating that only users that are part of the second audience list are to be enabled to see the another comment;
• responsive to the displayed comment not being selected by the author, causing display of, within the same copy of the collaborative content item, the text span in lieu of the respective proposed replacement text while also causing display of the another comment added by the second user to the author but not the first user based on the author being part of the second audience list and the first user not being part of the second audience list, wherein display of the respective proposed replacement text in the text span is not caused responsive to receiving a user selection of the displayed comment from a user other than the author;
• receiving an approval instruction for the respective proposed replacement text;
• and
• responsive to receiving the approval instruction, removing the displayed comment and replacing the text span in the same copy of the collaborative content item with the respective proposed replacement text.

A method for collaborative editing of a content item, the method comprising:

• receiving a plurality of comments from a plurality of users within a same copy of a collaborative content item stored by a collaborative content management system, the comments each associated with a respective text span in the same copy of the collaborative content item and including respective proposed replacement text for respective text spans;
• responsive to receiving a respective comment of the plurality of comments from a first user of the plurality of users, causing display of the respective comment in the same copy of the collaborative content item without causing display of the respective proposed replacement text in the text span, wherein the same copy is updated to include the respective comment, for display to an author of the collaborative content item, the first user, and a second user of the plurality of users, at a same time based on the first user and the second user being part of a first audience list that is specific to the respective comment;
• responsive to receiving a user selection of the displayed comment from the author, causing display of the respective proposed replacement text in the same copy of the collaborative content item in lieu of the respective text span while also causing display of another comment of the plurality of comments added by the second user to the author but not the first user based on the author being part of a second audience list that is specific to the another comment and the first user not being part of the second audience list, the second audience list indicating that only users that are part of the second audience list are to be enabled to see the another comment;
• responsive to the displayed comment no longer being selected by the author, causing display of, within the same copy of the collaborative content item, the text span in lieu of the respective proposed replacement text while also causing display of the another comment added by the second user to the author but not the first user based on the author being part of the second audience list and the first user not being part of the second audience list, wherein display of the respective proposed replacement text in the text span is not caused responsive to receiving a user selection of the displayed comment from a user other than the author;
• receiving a rejection instruction, the rejection instruction indicating a rejection of the respective proposed replacement text;
• and
• responsive to receiving the rejection instruction, removing the displayed comment and causing display of the text span in the same copy of the collaborative content item.