Cluttered Profile

June 17, 2006 10:03 PM

It's been a while since I visited my profile page. In doing so, I found it to be far more cluttered and loaded with information than it used to be. Can we get some options to hide some of these things (like top ten tags)?

For example, if I have no contacts, why not just hide any text about it? Why does it have to say that I have no contacts? If I have no projects or favorites, why not just hide that information instead of saying that I don't have any?

And can't that big long "What's the deal with your nickname..." text be shortened to "Personal Info" or something similar?
posted by BradNelson to Feature Requests at 10:03 PM (35 comments total)

I have a pea under my mattress filter.
posted by y2karl at 10:24 PM on June 17, 2006

i have a fish. in my pants.
posted by quonsar at 10:34 PM on June 17, 2006

How about we make system to provide profile data in XML format, and then allow users to post URLs where that data is read from metafilter, transformed on their own servers and then displayed to the user? That would fix the security issues and whatnot.
posted by delmoi at 10:40 PM on June 17, 2006

If you don't visit your profile that often, why is it such a big deal?
posted by macadamiaranch at 10:46 PM on June 17, 2006

Aww. You have no contacts.
posted by exlotuseater at 10:49 PM on June 17, 2006

He does now.
posted by Jimbob at 10:57 PM on June 17, 2006

What if every MetaFilter user got a nice sheet of card-stock paper, a number 3H pencil and a white mars plastic eraser and copied down the information on their user page?

Then, every time they changed something, they could add those changes to the piece of paper or erase them as the case may be. The paper, pencil and eraser are easily transported. In fact, the paper itself can be folded and placed in a pocket, hand bag or bicycle messenger bag.

Traditional HTML anchor tags could be replaced with an icon placed at varying points on the user page which would the refer anyone looking at it to further sheets of paper with information on them.

Information which does not change could be written down with an ultra-fine point indelible marker (possibly made by the Sanford corporation). This information could be the user name, member number and gender (in most cases).

Now the great part about my plan is that it's easily customizable. For instance, there are a variety of Crayola products available, from crayons to coloured pencils, which can be used to modify the sheet of paper. But it doesn't stop there.

The card-stock paper can be replaced with watercolour paper for a nice textured feel and the customization done directly with watercolours for a more Hudson River feel. I would recommend decorating the paper before adding information.

Non-traditional materials could be used as well. With an even larger sheet of paper, a nice urban feel could be attained with spray paint, various rusty objects and a touch of urine. However, this may be unwieldy.

Some users could really show their individuality by creating their user page on a stretched canvas with oil paints and wax emulsion. For a more minimalist approach, they might want to try learning the various techniques surrounding the use of light, shadow, layering and the theory of colour to create a page which changes the longer one looks at it.

Still others might be inclined to be more avante garde and simply place an unmounted window pane nearby, declaring that it is their user page. They will truly show that, indeed, the emperor has no clothes.
posted by Captaintripps at 10:58 PM on June 17, 2006

I wish I had the money to use A/C in my apartment. Summer nights when I can't get to sleep and it's 78 degrees indoors gets so annoying. You just lay there in bed, trying to get some sleep, but you're just too hot and sticky to get anywhere. Then, the next morning, you're exhausted from a lack of sleep and the whole day feels like a big drag. It sucks, I tell ya.

So what were we talking about again?
posted by SeizeTheDay at 11:22 PM on June 17, 2006

o shi.

I just visited my profile page, and found that two people dropped me as a contact. I feel like I should feel bad about this, but I can't seem to figure out who they were.

I probably deserved it.
posted by exlotuseater at 11:57 PM on June 17, 2006

Seriously, was there some kind of secret contest to see who could come up the most pathetic whine in MeTa?

If you only just now noticed these things then you obviously don't look at profiles that often, so I don't see how this is a problem. It's not like we're talking about the usability of the front page here, where screen real estate actually matters. If you ask me, omitting certain fields would only make more things more confusing, because the way it is now every profile is consistent and uniform and it's easy to quickly find what you're looking for.

Even the part about the verbosity of "What's the deal with your nickname?" has already been discussed previously.
posted by Rhomboid at 11:58 PM on June 17, 2006

What's the deal with your complaint? How did you get it? If your complaint is self-explanatory, then tell everyone when you first started using the internet, and what was the first thing that made you say "wow, this isn't just a place for mathowie to do as he pleases with his site after all?" Was it a website? Was it an email from a long-lost friend? Go on, spill it.
posted by Cranberry at 12:19 AM on June 18, 2006

*gets paper towels, wipes up spill*
posted by Cranberry at 12:20 AM on June 18, 2006

You know who else had no contacts? Hitler.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 12:23 AM on June 18, 2006

posted by Lynsey at 12:38 AM on June 18, 2006

you could get that image without the annoying site tag since that site didn't make the image.
posted by puke & cry at 1:06 AM on June 18, 2006

OK. Sometimes I feel like I've moved into a new gated community and keep finding out about new 'protocol'.

We have profiles?

And what is a 'contact' anyway? Should I be finding 'contacts' (aliens?) ... are 'contacts' like people who can be notified if anything happens to me? (or does this have something to do with tracking bird flu and other infectious diseases?)

Don't even get me started on that vectoring obsession of giving longitude-latitude for location ... my location doesn't even show up on google earth; why would I want to figure out the gps guides?

(Yes, another Saturday nite with too much time at the keyboard.)
posted by Surfurrus at 3:39 AM on June 18, 2006

my location doesn't even show up on google earth

Really? Is this more your neck of the woods?
posted by Gator at 4:01 AM on June 18, 2006

Well, last time I visited my profile page, it had two posts marked as favorites from me. Neither was a comment of mine. One, I had marked as a favorite. The other one was from a thread I had never even looked at. When I deleted them, I got a page that was blank except for a "Favorite removed" message and a crazily-blinking status bar. It was kind of disconcerting, but not in a pea-under-the-mattress kind of way.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 5:06 AM on June 18, 2006

NO.
posted by disclaimer at 5:35 AM on June 18, 2006

Ah, yes. This is why I don't read MetaTalk anymore. Thanks!
posted by BradNelson at 6:54 AM on June 18, 2006

So the thread was helpful then?
posted by hugsnkisses at 7:44 AM on June 18, 2006

Gator:

A: That is awesome.
B: Maximum magnification on that is also awesome.
posted by Bugbread at 8:32 AM on June 18, 2006

posted by quonsar at 9:05 AM on June 18, 2006

It tells you you have no contacts so you can go, "Ooh, what are contacts?" and then start adding some (or just add yourself for pure, self-referential fun).
posted by Eideteker at 10:46 AM on June 18, 2006

i just visited metafilter for the first time in ages and noticed that there are a bunch of annoying stories posted on the front page. is there a way to turn this off? i'd like to just sit and gaze and the pretty blue background.
posted by casconed at 12:41 PM on June 18, 2006

it looks like we won't have NixonBradNelson to kick around anymore.
posted by Hat Maui at 1:42 PM on June 18, 2006

Christ, this thread is like the inside of a hot dog.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 1:48 PM on June 18, 2006

Made of various unsavory meats?
posted by graventy at 2:35 PM on June 18, 2006

I am upset abou the particular shade of blue used for the MeFi front page, and by extension my profile. MY profile!!!1! Can this not be replaced with a better color? I would like pink. Pink like the inside of a hotdog.
posted by nowonmai at 2:36 PM on June 18, 2006

I was going for "full of lips and assholes," but that works too.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 2:36 PM on June 18, 2006

How about 'not good for you'?
Or 'tasty, but nutritionally vacuous'?
posted by graventy at 3:03 PM on June 18, 2006

My profile is pink, thank God.
posted by 31d1 at 4:55 PM on June 18, 2006

Well, last time I visited my profile page, it had two posts marked as favorites from me. Neither was a comment of mine.

He's right about this, you know. Doesn't make a lick of goddamned sense, prepositionally speaking.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:59 PM on June 18, 2006

MetaFilter: Like the inside of a hot dog.
MetaFilter: Made of various unsavory meats.
MetaFilter: Full of lips and assholes.

Quality.
posted by Plutor at 5:08 AM on June 19, 2006

You forgot Metafilter: Doesn't make a lick of gaddamned sense, prepositionally speaking.
posted by Fezboy! at 9:31 AM on June 19, 2006