January 8, 2006

7:20 AM

In AskMeFi, there is first the question. Then maybe 5 replies down there is a response by the person who asked the question. But they don't often identify themselves as the original poster, and it is not always obvious that it is the original poster and if I am down the page I have forgotten their username. Is there a way to highlite responses by the original poster? Or a way to make them stand out?
posted by 9000.68 to etiquette/policy at 7:20 AM (42 comments total)

that byline under every post sufficiently meets your criteria. I don't mean to be curt, but pay closer attention when reading the question, or scroll back up if you can't remember the asker's nick.
posted by carsonb at 7:23 AM on January 8, 2006

I suppose it would be nice, but really is it that hard to remember a name or scroll up to check the name? I guess given the number of times it gets asked that it must be, but I don't see it. Of all the things on Matt's agenda, this would seem to be down toward the bottom.
posted by caddis at 7:44 AM on January 8, 2006

Lay off the pot?
posted by puke & cry at 8:02 AM on January 8, 2006

What carsonb said. Jesus, people are lazy.
posted by languagehat at 8:04 AM on January 8, 2006

Sometimes I have to scroll up to recall who asked a question, but it's not that big of a deal. If I was to highlight anyone's responses, I'd only highlight your own (which seems much more useful).
posted by mathowie at 8:13 AM on January 8, 2006

Seriously. Scroll up, take the five-second hit to your reading time.
posted by cortex at 8:17 AM on January 8, 2006

sometimes I have problems finding where I was in a post if I have to scroll up to check the original post/question for one reason or another. my quick solution to this is to click on the timestamp of the comment where I want to continue reading, scroll to the top to make my reference, then just hit refresh. takes me right back to where I left off.
posted by carsonb at 8:23 AM on January 8, 2006

Thinking about it, maybe it should highlight Matt and Jessamyn's answers in Meta, since they're the only ones that really matter.

Matt's would be highlighted in a slightly more vibrant color to indicate the hierarchy, of course. Or maybe his could be blue and hers could be pink. Really, the possibilities are endless.
posted by smackfu at 8:53 AM on January 8, 2006

What was the question?
posted by mischief at 8:59 AM on January 8, 2006

mischief: does pot make askme answers more illuminating or more callipygian?
posted by carsonb at 9:02 AM on January 8, 2006

oh yeah
posted by mischief at 9:16 AM on January 8, 2006

click on the timestamp of the comment where I want to continue reading, scroll to the top to make my reference, then just hit refresh.

i gotta show some love to a guy who not only can read and comprehend, but understands his tools as well. ladies, gents, and n00bz, i give you carsonb! bravo, dude! may the unwashed 5-digit pagan masses hear his words and turn from their incurious ways.
posted by quonsar at 9:27 AM on January 8, 2006

You could probably do this with a greasemonkey script in about 5 lines.
posted by Rhomboid at 9:41 AM on January 8, 2006

Sometimes I have to scroll up to recall who asked a question, but it's not that big of a deal. If I was to highlight anyone's responses, I'd only highlight your own (which seems much more useful).

How is highlighting my own responses more useful? I can easily remember my username, and usually manage to remember what I wrote well enough to scan for it, as well. Despite the rather unwelcome reception this suggestion has received, I've thought a few times that it would be helpful to indicate where the original poster is providing updates and more information for a question.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:46 AM on January 8, 2006

sometimes I have problems finding where I was in a post if I have to scroll up to check the original post/question for one reason or another.

Another solution (though the timestamp one is more robust and has more applications):

Click-and-hold on your scrollbar. Scroll it up or down to whatever thing(s) you want to look at; for quick reference to your starting point, pull your mouse significantly to the left or right of the scrollbar column -- the view will pop back to the starting point.

Release the mouse when you're done, wheresoever you prefer your final view to be.
posted by cortex at 9:48 AM on January 8, 2006

Could you put my own user name in parentheses after every comment (or in the middle if it's a long comment) as I have frequent identity crises and often forget who I am.
posted by leftcoastbob at 10:14 AM on January 8, 2006

How is highlighting my own responses more useful?

So you can quickly scan a comments page to see where you left off earlier in the day.
posted by mathowie at 10:25 AM on January 8, 2006

Worst. Pony request. Ever. (sorry)
posted by keijo at 10:25 AM on January 8, 2006

So you can quickly scan a comments page to see where you left off earlier in the day.

I mean, you're the boss, but that sounds redundant when we have the glory of the My Comments page.
posted by carsonb at 10:36 AM on January 8, 2006

Yes, I have to second carsonb: My Comments is the bestest pony ever, and solves almost all problems... except for leftcoastbob's. Personal to leftcoastbob: you're leftcoastbob, leftcoastbob. Carve it into your left arm where you can refer to it as needed.
posted by languagehat at 11:09 AM on January 8, 2006

I don't get all the hate for this request. On another-board-which-shall-not-be-named, I installed a firefox extension which, among other things, changes the colour of the original poster's name and puts a very small "Thread Poster" textline underneath it. It's simple, unobtrusive, and helps a lot during giant 200-comment threads.

I don't understand why so many people are violently angry about a request which simply and positively aids usability.
posted by Jairus at 11:15 AM on January 8, 2006

I don't understand why so many people are violently angry about a request which simply and positively aids usability.
posted by Jairus

Violently angry? If you consider this thread "violently angry," you sure travel in different circles than I.

Tip o' the hat to languagehat: I'm carving furiously.
posted by leftcoastbob at 11:23 AM on January 8, 2006

I really like the original poster's idea. And the highlighting mathowie and jessamyn's responses in MetaTalk.
posted by cillit bang at 11:23 AM on January 8, 2006

cillit bang, the extension I mentioned also highlights the forum moderator's names, in different colours. Works well.
posted by Jairus at 11:24 AM on January 8, 2006

Meh- good luck. I suggested this < 1 month ago and got called a fuckface. carsonb's suggestion rocks though.
posted by michaelkuznet at 12:06 PM on January 8, 2006

I agree with fuckface, carsonb's suggestion seems best.
posted by luser at 12:28 PM on January 8, 2006

So you can quickly scan a comments page to see where you left off earlier in the day.

I guess that would be useful if I typically commented each time I read a thread. But isn't this more what the X new comments link on the page is for?
posted by jacquilynne at 12:36 PM on January 8, 2006

I like this idea too.
posted by blag at 12:50 PM on January 8, 2006

What's so hard about clicking on the timestamp, as mentioned above? That works every time.
posted by reflecked at 12:59 PM on January 8, 2006

Why should you have to click on anything? I like this idea too. Often, I'll come to a thread after there are 50+ comments in it and I just want to quickly scroll through it to see what kind of responses the original poster has. If there is some small visual indicator on the post, I can quickly scroll through the whole thing and pick out the updates. I think this is a great idea and that it probably wouldn't be a terribly difficult pony to implement either.
posted by freshgroundpepper at 1:05 PM on January 8, 2006

again, I think all you need for a "small visual indicator" is in the byline. Ctrl+F, poster's nick.
posted by carsonb at 1:13 PM on January 8, 2006

(sorry, I don't know the keyboard shortcut for keyword searching webpages on Mac)
posted by carsonb at 1:15 PM on January 8, 2006

So you can quickly scan a comments page to see where you left off earlier in the day

What I'd really like is the ability to highlight spesific comments as being read. I think we talked about this before and decided that a client-side system was the best way to do this. Did anyone ever do this?

What I thik would be kind of cool would be a documented API that let you do everything on metafilter via SOAP or even just RSS, so people could write their own dedicated clients.
posted by delmoi at 1:16 PM on January 8, 2006

I believe Metafilthy puts a horizontal line on the screen marking where the thread ended when you last read it.
posted by knave at 1:22 PM on January 8, 2006

I think adding all these features to MetaFilthy would probably be the best way to go, if the Something Awful Last Read extension is any indication.
posted by Jairus at 2:19 PM on January 8, 2006

Could someone remind me what this thread is about before I comment?
posted by odinsdream at 9:29 PM on January 8, 2006

Aw c'mon odinsdream; it's not hard. Just click on the timestamp next to the last post you read. Then, scroll up to the top of the page. Read the post. Then, click in the address bar at the top of your browser window and hit enter. Then wait for the page to reload in the correct place, assuming that nobody has posted an image without height and width declarations. Simple, really.
posted by blag at 4:26 AM on January 9, 2006

Declaration: I'm 5'10", 150 pounds.

Now can we get back to talking about rabbits with pancakes on their heads?
posted by languagehat at 6:36 AM on January 9, 2006

Well, I'd like it if every post had my name and a comma inserted in its beginning, so I could pretend they are all addressed to me. Sort of like what leftcoastbob is asking for, but more misleading. Then I could feel good at all those compliments that people are always posting, or get righteously indignant at the rare unpleasant remark. You, of course, would see your name.

I think this would either immensely enhance the Metafilter experience, or destroy it utterly. So let's give it a try!
posted by Kirth Gerson at 7:00 AM on January 9, 2006

Jairus writes "I don't understand why so many people are violently angry about a request which simply and positively aids usability."

I think it's because things like this, and avatars, and sig lines, and post counts, and "member since", and reputation points, etc. etc. ad naseum, are very distracting rather than usability aids. One of the top ten good things about MF is it isn't laden down with all this gibberish. With the exception of the occasional cult image thread MF is almost all content (good or bad at least it's content and not Flair ala Office Space).
posted by Mitheral at 11:54 AM on January 9, 2006

Wow, people really spit on the idea of convenience here. Yes, it's not really a necessary feature. And yes, it would be lame to truly whinge about the need for it. But there's nothing really wrong with the idea. I'm sure people scoffed at the idea of sliced bread, too. "Jesus! Spend two seconds cutting off a slice, you whiner!"
posted by scarabic at 4:08 PM on January 9, 2006

Wait a--

hold on. Just hold on.

Wait a fucking minute.

Okay. I--

I wanna make sure we're perfectly clear here.



They have sliced bread now?
posted by cortex at 10:33 PM on January 9, 2006