What are Contacts for? February 1, 2006 2:17 PM Subscribe
Please explain the "Contacts" section of the profile.
Where, and under what circumstances should/would I link to another MeFite? Is this something people do in posts, or elsewhere?
Viewing the Contact Info of a Profile with Contacts seems to indicate something external to MeFi -- I see a column of links to profiles, and a column of external URLs, but nothing coupling them (although some of the identities of the latter are obvious).
And what's an example of a Contribution from a Contact?
Where, and under what circumstances should/would I link to another MeFite? Is this something people do in posts, or elsewhere?
Viewing the Contact Info of a Profile with Contacts seems to indicate something external to MeFi -- I see a column of links to profiles, and a column of external URLs, but nothing coupling them (although some of the identities of the latter are obvious).
And what's an example of a Contribution from a Contact?
Where, and under what circumstances should/would I link to another MeFite?
I link to people I meet at meetups, so I don't forgot them.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:25 PM on February 1, 2006 [1 favorite]
I link to people I meet at meetups, so I don't forgot them.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:25 PM on February 1, 2006 [1 favorite]
Contacts work like so:
You read a post by something you think is interesting, you click through to their profile and look at their previous posts, and you keeping finding good stuff, so you want to track their future posts.
On their profile page, there's a link to add them as a contact, so you click it. The nature of the contact is optional, so you can skip all the friend/coworker/etc stuff and just save them as a contact.
Now, you can load up your My Contacts page (link in the footer) to view posts from the people you are tracking.
The top part of the page, going from left to right, shows a list of people you have set as contacts. The next column shows off their web URLs. The third column shows people that link to you and call you a contact.
My contact page has a zillion contacts to and from, so it's a good way to illustrate the functionality.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:25 PM on February 1, 2006
You read a post by something you think is interesting, you click through to their profile and look at their previous posts, and you keeping finding good stuff, so you want to track their future posts.
On their profile page, there's a link to add them as a contact, so you click it. The nature of the contact is optional, so you can skip all the friend/coworker/etc stuff and just save them as a contact.
Now, you can load up your My Contacts page (link in the footer) to view posts from the people you are tracking.
The top part of the page, going from left to right, shows a list of people you have set as contacts. The next column shows off their web URLs. The third column shows people that link to you and call you a contact.
My contact page has a zillion contacts to and from, so it's a good way to illustrate the functionality.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:25 PM on February 1, 2006
Oh I forgot to mention, scroll down below my contact lists to see the contributions from my contacts (recent mefi, metatalk, and ask mefi posts by people I marked as contacts).
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:26 PM on February 1, 2006
posted by mathowie (staff) at 2:26 PM on February 1, 2006
Note that contributions only lists posts, not comments, so it's pretty likely that your contacts won't have anything at all.
posted by smackfu at 2:30 PM on February 1, 2006
posted by smackfu at 2:30 PM on February 1, 2006
people you like, people you want to keep track of, people you always run into, friends, enemies, etc...
posted by amberglow at 2:37 PM on February 1, 2006
posted by amberglow at 2:37 PM on February 1, 2006
Enemies, eh? Does this indicate a kill-file possibility?
Thank you for the explanatioon, Señor Matt. It was actually your Contacts page I was perusing in an effort to understand this feature, but I neglected to scroll down, or right far enough (lookie there! A third column!)
posted by Rash at 2:43 PM on February 1, 2006
Thank you for the explanatioon, Señor Matt. It was actually your Contacts page I was perusing in an effort to understand this feature, but I neglected to scroll down, or right far enough (lookie there! A third column!)
posted by Rash at 2:43 PM on February 1, 2006
People that constantly hound you for man-sex.
Don't flatter yourself unnecessarily.
posted by Rothko at 2:44 PM on February 1, 2006
Don't flatter yourself unnecessarily.
posted by Rothko at 2:44 PM on February 1, 2006
Enemies, eh? Does this indicate a kill-file possibility?
No, it just indicates that you might be polite enough to at least stalk those whom you despise.
posted by cortex at 2:51 PM on February 1, 2006
No, it just indicates that you might be polite enough to at least stalk those whom you despise.
posted by cortex at 2:51 PM on February 1, 2006
FACT: "man-sex" and "menses" sound kinda similar if you say them quickly.
posted by cortex at 2:52 PM on February 1, 2006
posted by cortex at 2:52 PM on February 1, 2006
Rash: Consider reading this discussion on kill-files. Many consider them anti-community.
posted by terrapin at 3:13 PM on February 1, 2006
posted by terrapin at 3:13 PM on February 1, 2006
I originally planned to build stuff off the contacts list. Towards that, I'll soon be adding the ability to add tags to any post by someone on your contacts list that also lists you as a contact.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:27 PM on February 1, 2006
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:27 PM on February 1, 2006
Right now there is no obvious way to remove a contact. Maybe a divorce feature could be added?
posted by Rumple at 3:46 PM on February 1, 2006
posted by Rumple at 3:46 PM on February 1, 2006
Rash: Consider reading this discussion on kill-files. Many consider them anti-community.
I recommend adding those people to your killfile first.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 3:49 PM on February 1, 2006
I recommend adding those people to your killfile first.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 3:49 PM on February 1, 2006
Rash, thanks for asking about the contacts feature. I was just wondering what it was, myself. (And thanks for explaining, mathowie.)
posted by trip and a half at 3:52 PM on February 1, 2006
posted by trip and a half at 3:52 PM on February 1, 2006
Rumple, if you click through to your contact's user page, there's a "Remove [user] as a contact" button.
posted by occhiblu at 3:53 PM on February 1, 2006
posted by occhiblu at 3:53 PM on February 1, 2006
oh! Thanks occhiblu. Not that any of my esteemed contacts are in danger of divorce, mind you.
posted by Rumple at 3:57 PM on February 1, 2006
posted by Rumple at 3:57 PM on February 1, 2006
Towards that, I'll soon be adding the ability to add tags to any post by someone on your contacts list that also lists you as a contact.
Public tags? Hmm.
This might bear some discussion, perhaps in a thread of its own. I'd be curious to hear your thinking on this, and why you're thinking of extending tagging functionality along that particular axis. The contacts thing always seemed a little arbitrary and tacked-on to me (no biggie, of course), and if the thought in doing this is to leverage it to make it more useful, I'd argue that that's the wrong IA design driver. (And you'd better add 'remove contact' functionality too, if you're going that way.)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:32 PM on February 1, 2006
Public tags? Hmm.
This might bear some discussion, perhaps in a thread of its own. I'd be curious to hear your thinking on this, and why you're thinking of extending tagging functionality along that particular axis. The contacts thing always seemed a little arbitrary and tacked-on to me (no biggie, of course), and if the thought in doing this is to leverage it to make it more useful, I'd argue that that's the wrong IA design driver. (And you'd better add 'remove contact' functionality too, if you're going that way.)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:32 PM on February 1, 2006
Not that any of my esteemed contacts are in danger of divorce, mind you.
Oh, good. I'd hate to think I was facilitating a home wreckage.
posted by occhiblu at 4:35 PM on February 1, 2006
Oh, good. I'd hate to think I was facilitating a home wreckage.
posted by occhiblu at 4:35 PM on February 1, 2006
you can remove a contact easily.
If you connected to stavros, when you view his profile page, the link that said "add stavros as a contact" will read "remove stavros as a contact"
posted by mathowie (staff) at 5:08 PM on February 1, 2006
If you connected to stavros, when you view his profile page, the link that said "add stavros as a contact" will read "remove stavros as a contact"
posted by mathowie (staff) at 5:08 PM on February 1, 2006
OK, thanks. I'm dumb (or the UI isn't that great, or some combination of the two). That was just an aside to my main question, though...
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:16 PM on February 1, 2006
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:16 PM on February 1, 2006
Is it just me or has the URL portion of the Contacts list never quite properly matched up to the proper users?
I've never seen it space properly, and it seems like it's even worse now that there's the Jabber icons spacing out the contacts even more.
posted by loquacious at 5:34 PM on February 1, 2006
I've never seen it space properly, and it seems like it's even worse now that there's the Jabber icons spacing out the contacts even more.
posted by loquacious at 5:34 PM on February 1, 2006
ThePinkSuperhero: "I link to people I meet at meetups, so I don't forgot them."
I link to TPS because I know that someday (someday!) she will be exposed to her analogue of red kryptonite and turn into an evil marauding Pink Villain(ess). On that day, I want to be in her good graces.
That, and I met her at a meetup.
posted by Plutor at 2:57 AM on February 2, 2006
I link to TPS because I know that someday (someday!) she will be exposed to her analogue of red kryptonite and turn into an evil marauding Pink Villain(ess). On that day, I want to be in her good graces.
That, and I met her at a meetup.
posted by Plutor at 2:57 AM on February 2, 2006
Towards that, I'll soon be adding the ability to add tags to any post by someone on your contacts list that also lists you as a contact.
I like this because it will provide a way to add tags to old posts, something that badly needs doing (and obviously that committee thing isn't going to happen).
posted by languagehat at 5:37 AM on February 2, 2006
I like this because it will provide a way to add tags to old posts, something that badly needs doing (and obviously that committee thing isn't going to happen).
posted by languagehat at 5:37 AM on February 2, 2006
As far as I know, you can't change your "relationship" tags on someone who has already been added as a contact (for instance, if someone is your muse and you later meet them, or a crush turns into a sweetheart), but you can work around it by "removing" them and then re-"add"ing them with the updated relationship.
posted by matildaben at 6:39 AM on February 2, 2006
posted by matildaben at 6:39 AM on February 2, 2006
« Older RSS feeds for tags on both mefi and ask mefi | Can I log in and out of parts of MeFi? Newer »
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
Feel free to make up your own joke.
posted by yhbc at 2:19 PM on February 1, 2006